If Wishes Were Candy, Book One
by J.C Jackals
Summary: With little knowledge of Avatar-Earth, Dana ends up worlds away from home. Maybe luck smiles down on her, because she ends up tagging along with the Gaang. ** WARNING FOR: A bit of cursing and some deviation from the show.
1. Chapter One

**AN: So... I know people generally don't like OCs. Original Characters can be absolutely irritating and horrible when not done right... But, I've spent a lot of time putting Dana together, and wrote her as though she would be for a story I want to publish offline.**

**This fic is about more than just the AtLA characters. It's about overcoming things, family, and growing up. ****Please, read and enjoy. If you enjoyed it, drop a line? **

**The second chapter and on, unless she's out-cold for a while, will be in her POV. WARNING for possible cursing and deviation from the show.**

**DISCLAIMER: Obviously I only own Dana, and whatever other one-time-show OCs that pop in.**

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**Arc I: New World Part 1.**

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Hallowe'en is one of those nights where even cowards do things they would normally never do... like, say, explore an abandoned house for fifty bucks.

The moon hung high, fat and bright in the starless and cloudless night sky. Edana Rowe, known to friends as Dana, stood in front of the old home with two friends and one dog beside her. Both besties were snickering at the look of sheer (literally knee-quaking) terror on her face.

As it was Hallowe'en, she and everyone dressed up; Nelly wore a green witches robe and held a real broom, while Cordelia dressed as the Scream with red painted all over her mask. Cordi's dog even had a mask strapped to its back.

Dana had thrown together some thrift shop things and called it a Gypsy Princess costume. She wore a white cotton dress tied at the waist with a purple scarf, a wine colored vest, and several layers beneath because of the October chill. All in all, when combined with her loose waist length black hair looking its naturally wild (hellish) curls, she looked like a Gypsy Princess.

Well, that's what her friends said. She thought it failed, but it was the effort that counted.

On this night Dana and her two long time friends were planning on having a sleepover, but seeing as Nelly already had her things in Cordelia's place, Dana was the only one with two bags, one for clothes and necessities and another for miscellaneous.

"S-so... you'll give me fifty bucks to go in and take four things from the house...," Dana said, doing her best to avoid stuttering. "Then I take a coin from the attic... and I get your money?"

Nelly and Cordelia, with her mask on top of her head, both grinned widely and nodded rigorously before chirping in unison, "Of course!"

Dana felt her eyebrow twitch. "...before I set one pinky toe in that place, show me the money. Please."

Both older girls looked at each other and snickered, then Nelly said, "I've got the money, I promise that on my dogs soul!"

She just had to say that, didn't she? Well, even if they don't have it, Dana would be the one chasing them with a badminton racket and generally causing minor mayhem for them. The short teen rubbed her face, glad to have avoided the greasy Halloween make-up from earlier.

"Alright, alright. For fifty I'll go in and-" Dana's eyes widened and backed away from the house in a sudden reality-check. "W-wait, there aren't any psychos in there, right?"

"We checked in there already, armed with forks, a broom, and a giant German Shepherd," Nelly said patiently. "Or have you forgotten the over-sized puppy here?"

Dana bit her lip to keep in a whine. "Um, can I take Jojo with me? He'll be good company in case... any psychotic hobo's slipped by you two..."

"Of course, duh. And are you gonna leave your other backpack with us or not?"

"Uh, nope," Dana said, turning to face the ramshackle house. "You guys know I like to keep my sparklies on me when they aren't under my bed..."

"Yeah, yeah," Cordelia said, waving a black gloved hand her way. "Now get going before we toss you in."

Soon Dana was walking through the door and into a wall of dusty black gloom with only the comfortingly bright reprieve of a palm-sized flashlight to fight off the darkness, thanks to Nelly. Though she had Jojo at her side, the large white beastie didn't make her feel very safe.

Exploration of the 'Haunted House' was slow going, but Dana blamed that on the small light she had. First stop was the living room, occupied by a broken table, torn couches, and lots of dust. The only place of interest was the crowded mantle over the fireplace, from which she took a dirt crusted kneeling angel figurine. This she dropped into the bag she'd shoved into her pocket.

The second space she explored was what looked like a kitchen. At least she judged that from the sinks and doorless cupboards nearby some pale and dusty spaces. There she rooted around with help from Jojo and found an ornate, though bent, spoon that might be silver. Third was what must have been a drawing-room, where empty, mangled bookshelves sagged into one another, and one broken coffee table took up space in a corner.

From there Jojo sniffed out a metal hair brush from under a table leg. The fourth space was a bedroom with a torn and eaten mattress shoved in one corner while some boxes and other things lay crushed into a different corner. Dana herself found a tarnished and broken pocket watch.

Now she stood at the attic staircase, pondering the chances of her falling through the stairs. What if she _did_ fall, would Jojo be dragged down too? What if she accidentally killed the poor animal?

Dana couldn't stand the thought so she tied Jojo to the banister and said to stay.

_One step, two step, three..._ Dana swallowed hard as she edged up the stairs while pressing herself into the wall. _So far so good._ Two agonizingly slow minutes later she stood in front of a dark wooden door with no knob.

"Well damn."

Then her cell phone rang and she screeched.

"Y-yes?" Nelly had called and asked if she was okay. "No, I'm not hurt, you just scared the bejeezus out of me."

"Well, that's good!" Nelly said in a sing-song tone. "What's Hallowe'en if you don't get a scream or two in?"

"...I'm hanging up now, she-demon." Dana's phone snapped shut, startlingly loud in the quiet house.

Jojo whined from below, a reminder that she wasn't really alone.

Dana looked at the door, her face twisted in a squeamish way. "Now or never." And she pushed it open with one finger.

Inside was a cluttered area with cloth hanging in the corners, creating ghoulish shadows when she swung her light over them. Dana shivered, feeling sweat trickle down her back. It took every ounce of courage she had and a constant repetition of "Remember the money, remember the money!" to get her feet moving, and she slowly edged around overturned tables, ratty love-chairs, and towering cardboard boxes all coated with more web than every other room put together.

"Oh... _f-f-_fudge me," she stuttered. It was the webs that scared her most- what if there were Black Widows? Or other venomous arachnids? She shuddered like a chihuahua.

Something scratched from a corner, Dana turned so fast she nearly pitched headfirst into a table. Then a skittering of something dry and many-legged hurried across the ceiling. Or was it the floor?

Dana had never understood the literary cliché of 'blood draining from face', but she did now. First she felt very, very cold. Then, as adrenaline began flooding her system, she felt feverish.

"Oh, fuck the money!" She turned and tugged the slender straps of her drawstring bag closer before stumbling through the nightmarish attic; unfortunately she got herself turned around in the mountainous place that could have starred in a special Hallowe'en episode of Hoarders, and ended up tripping into a corner occupied by a dented metal object.

It was a box and it jangled rather cheerfully in the face of her fear. Obviously, or she hoped, it was filled with tiny metal mysteries that would be the last of her objectives.

"Fine," she muttered, voice scratchy from the effort not to cough in case a monster was nearby. "I can take a hint." Dana snatched the box up with help from its rusty metal handle, and she turned only to stop in her tracks.

Glowing silver eyes were watching her from a corner of the room, finely shaped like almonds, and with no iris or pupil.

For the longest moment Dana stood frozen and transfixed, mesmerized by the pretty silver sparkle in those eyes and rooted to the spot by an equal amount of heart-stuttering horror. Dana did indeed have a scream clawing its way up her throat, but the desperate noise stopped short, leaving her mouth opening and closing.

A sound reached her ears. Soft, gravelly, and amused- the laugh of a monster.

Dana screamed, shattering the quiet like the crack of a bullet.

She blinked and the eyes were closer. She whimpered, backing into the corner, desperately keeping her eyes open. She blinked again because her own hurt so much, and those pearly orbs were several feet away. Dana shrieked once more, her hand tightening into a death grip on the metal box handle, filling the limb with sharp pain. Dana used her free hand and physically held one eye open until her foot snagged on a cloth, sending her falling backwards over the small table.

Her fall seemed to stretch on forever, and twenty seconds passed before Dana registered that something was very wrong.

Why wasn't her skull meeting the floor?

The pressure of another scream built up violently, and all she could produce was a croak that hurt her throat. Dana was beyond horrified and somewhere in the realm of blind hysteria, yet somehow she caught the peculiar sensation of a chill cradling her form as though it were solid. Her eyes blinked open at the cold, seeing only sheer blackness, the same abysmal shade found in the eyes of sharks deep beneath the sea.

Before she could hyperventilate further, because she had definitely been doing that, Dana felt the merciful solidity of ground beneath her feet...

And then? Well, she was stumbling out of a towering bamboo forest, bumping into many people and a tall blue clothed boy.

On autopilot because her higher thinking processes were struggling up a steep, steep hill, Dana shuffled to the side and leaned dizzily against the stone wall beside her point of entry.

Where in the great name of Elvis Presley, Cry, and Pewdiepie was she now and_ how the_ _hell_ did she get there?

Wooden remains of structures, poles, and green tile lay in haphazard piles to the right and left of her, appearing to be the remnants of ravaged buildings and strange street lamps. Beyond that a village stretched out before her, where some structures stood perfectly in tact with whitewashed sides and deeply slanted green roofs.

On closer inspection, specific areas even looked as though highly precise mini tornado blew through. In short, everything appeared to be from a place most definitely not the semi-urban Ontario she came from. They had an eclectic and extremely foreign style, as though taken from fanciful Japan or China.

The longer Dana stood there, taking in the- town? village?- the strange place and watching people tearfully reuniting, the more she felt her stomach hollowing as a slow shiver of fear crept over her. Back home the sky was dark and empty night, lit only by a full moon. Now it was lighter and held a crescent moon cradled by much more than a handful of stars that opposed the emptiness she recalled.

In a suffocating daze Dana observed everyone for a time she didn't track. Three in particular caught her dim attention more than once- a slender boy with sunny clothes and arrows on his hands and head, a pretty dark-skinned girl with hair loops and blue clothes, and a tall boy with a boomerang and clothes similar to the girls. Dana looked at them again, studying the trio in a quickly clearing daze... then she noticed that the giant wall of fuzz behind them was actually a giant bison creature because it moved.

She shrieked, still caught in a state of dwindling hysteria, and slipped down the stone wall with her bags contents digging painfully into her back. As Dana landed on the dirt she dimly noticed several civilians gathering around her, asking questions she didn't catch. All that she could stutter, in blind answer, was something along the lines of 'Giant fuzzy monster' over and over again.

A small hand gently slapped her cheek, snapping Dana to attention in time for a small blur of white and brown to land beside her, sniffing curiously at her backpack. Dana swallowed her shriek, held down the urge to swat the animal, and threw herself to the side since, obviously, bat monkeys with gigantic ears weren't the common little beastie in urban areas.

People took a hold of her arms then, gentle and mindful of the rusty box still being hugged tightly to her chest, and she was lead toward who seemed to be the village leader.

Dana's honey colored eyes were wide and locked on the giant bison creature coming ever closer. Oh man, she was feeling faint. She wondered why, in the great name of Guylian chocolate, why the damn bison was so familiar. Just, why? Was it from a dream? A faint image she'd conjured while reading? Or, or was it, could it? No, definitely not. Impossible.

Still, the same blanching feeling took over, making her dark skin look sickly. Her legs stopped working properly.

Everything looked, smelled, and felt just as real as her short adventure in the haunted house. Her stomach lurched, reacting badly to conflicting feelings.

"Excuse me, young miss," said a deep and gentle voice. Dana turned frightened eyes on the village head, nodding slightly in reflex. "Could you tell me your name and where you live? I will have someone escort you home as soon as possible, I promise you."

Dana meant to say her name and stutter through a bad lie, but what came out was, "Is- is that bald boy the... Avatar?"

The village head, let's call him Roark since Dana liked the name, nodded in surprise. "Why yes, that is the Avatar, miss. Why-"

But Dana, feeling a wave of desperation, had already torn herself out of the two strangers grips and away. She stumbled into a short run toward Aang, Sokka and Katara, and then, with all the grace of a newborn horse, tripped into a face-plant right by the trios feet.

"Are you okay?" The voice was gentle and caring, just like the hands helping Dana to her feet. "That was a nasty fall."

"Kinda funny too," said a quieter male voice, like the speaker- probably Sokka- was trying not to be heard half way through his sentence. Those gentle hands pulled away and not two seconds later the same guys voice was yelping when, definitely Katara, was smacking Sokka and scolding.

Dana forced herself out of the frightened slump she stood in and looked around for the special bald monk, and jumped pretty high when she turned her head right and caught him watching her partly in concern and part impatience.

"Is there anything you need help with?" he asked, voice holding a natural sweetness to it. "Really, really quick help?"

If it weren't for her fear Dana would have laughed. As it was, she opened her mouth and tried to speak, but only a cracked whimper slipped out.

All the stress from her little adventure and walking into an impossible world was beginning to pile up, finishing off her crumbling composure and leaving her a weeping mess. In the back of her mind Dana surprised herself by holding up long enough to stand in front of Aang.

The boy in question was waving his arms in alarm, eyes bugging out as the seemingly younger girl in front him sunk to her knees and started sobbing hysterically into her hands. The heartbroken sound was very muffled and choked from her poor attempts to quiet the sobs. Katara, standing a few feet away, gasped and hurried to the girl's side, kneeling down and rocking Dana gently in her arms.

"K-Katara! What's wrong with her?" Aang said in a voice that cracked too, though his was from alarm and extreme confusion.

His friend said nothing, concentrating on speaking softly, soothingly to calm the young stranger down. Katara began asking questions, and after two minutes of extremely butchered sentences from Dana, Katara relayed to Aang that the girl's name was Edana, and that she needed help only the Avatar could give.

Aang was torn. Should he offer to take the girl along with them? He'd be back for Sokka and Katara once he lost all the Fire Nation people who would chase him, but could he really take someone else along on his journey? Everyday was fun, but it became all the more clear that things would eventually escalate into territory dangerous even for himself...

Katara stood, back straight and bright eyes as diamond-steady as ever. "We're taking her with us, right? We can't just leave her here, it doesn't feel right, Aang. I think we need to take her along with us."

Sokka was of a different mind. "Yeah, _great_ idea Katara, and when we're attacked by Fire Nation ships enroute to the temple? What then, oh great Katara? She's a civilian, she can't fight."

Katara rounded on Sokka, ignoring his jab for once, and spoke in a reasonable tone. "And what makes you think she can't fight?"

"Well... look at her! She's- she's practically shattered!" Sokka said, voice creeping high in his ire, and he gestured wildly. "No warrior is that emotionally brittle."

Dana's tears dried slightly and her violent sobs faded into heavy breathing. She heard the siblings talking and understood where Sokka was coming from. The Fire Nation and its cruelty existed here, definitely not an issue she wanted to deal with. In fact the thought made want to crawl under a rock and hide.

The Other-Worlder played with her fingers as she waited for the siblings to take a breath, and dug out grime from under her nails with a disgusted face. When the two paused in their argument, thinking up more points, Dana hurried to her feet and bowed low in Aang's direction, eyes clenched shut as she just followed what felt right under the circumstances.

"I- I know it's a huge imposition, asking you to help me. You're an important person with a destiny bigger than... than my little problems, but it would only be for a while..."

"Hey," Aang's voice was close by when he spoke, and a soft weight fell on her shoulder. "Please, you don't have to bow. I... I promise to help you, Edana."

In the background Sokka was squawking in rejection, saying she wouldn't be safe with them and that she would prove to be a liability, and Katara was there to smack her brother in reprimand.

Relief washed over the Other-Worlder, and she stood to show a trembling smile Aang's way. "Thank you," she said, and her next words were very hard to force out. "If... if it's impossible to help me, then... I'll leave you and your friends be, alright? I- I think that's a good idea. And please call me Dana."

Aang frowned at her, eyes large and slightly confused. Behind him the villagers were bustling, still rejoicing and already commencing clean-up.

"Why would it be impossible?" Aang's question was understandable, but far too difficult to explain right then.

Dana hesitated, forcing herself to hold Aang's clear-eyed gaze. "Just a gut feeling. Um... wh-what's your name?"

_Please tell me before I do a stupid,_ she thought grimly and twisting her fingers anxiously.

Aang laughed, the not-so-mirthful noise sounding forced before he pointed at his friends. "She's Katara and he's Sokka. My name is Aang."

Dana nodded, feeling only slightly more at ease. She wouldn't have to explain her impossible circumstances just yet, at least not by her own mistake.

As she watched Aang talk to Sokka and Katara she wondered if she'd wake up eventually, or if this was actually happening.

"A dream within a dream...," Dana murmured to herself._  
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**xXx**

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**AN: Would anyone mind commenting? Or reviewing? You don't have to, but reviews/comments tend to fill writers hearts with more happiness than favorite-and-watch ninjas...**

***Critique is welcomed.**


	2. Chapter Two

**AN: The switch between POV begins... now~! I hope it will be obvious, but I tried to make one of her flaws noticeable. ****WARNING: A bit... emotional, and a possible Language Warning too, but I think that's understandable if one thinks about it hard enough. :D**

****CRITIQUE: Go ahead, I'm a big girl. :)**

****EDIT: No one mentioned the bloody, oozing gap between her flipping the freak out about whether it's all real or not. I'm surprised no one ripped me a new one for that. Well... actually disappointed is more like it... I really like critique despite.**

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**Arc I, New World Part 2.**

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I'm no virgin to Fanfiction. I've read ones where characters fall into other fandoms and I've seen few that had the characters reacting realistically, and I never understood.

Well, I did now.

It's hard to react when one doesn't really know what they're feeling for longer than a moment.

There was fear that choked and made it hard to breathe. There was pain with the realization that I refused to think about, pain that crushed my heart and threatened to shatter what little composure I had regained. Wonder at where I stood, absolute awe at Appa and Momo, at the characters I liked now being as real as me. Loneliness; no one to depend on, no one to talk to, no one I trusted like Cordy and Nelly. That, plus more unidentifiable emotions that came and went again and again, like the waves on a beach.

It was so confusing, so relentless. I had to leave and find a quiet place away from everyone. So I walked through village gates free of the bamboo I stumbled through, and few noticed my wandering off. I trudged until the village sounds were faint. There I sat down on a fallen log for the longest time, or maybe it was some of the worst few minutes of my life. I sat hunched, eyes closed as I concentrated on breathing.

Eventually the panic attack passed and I slumped, only to feel the dull corner of the rusted toolbox dig into my chest.

The toolbox and its jangly contents.

Suddenly my confused emotions turned into dark anger. I wanted to scream, to curse every God and spirit I could think of, and I wanted to hurt something.

Brownie point for me... That would be sarcasm, by the way.

I stood, huffing and trying to keep calm enough not to shriek every obscenity I knew, and opted to throw the damn box as hard as I could at a nearby rock the size of a Great Dane.

To my satisfaction it broke apart on impact, and the violent bang it created was like a salve that calmed me.

... And _then_ the guilt hit. I'd just littered in one of the cleanest, purest worlds that would ever exist. Agh! I hurried over and knelt, turning the bottom right side up, and then I sat motionless, wondering what the frick I was doing. Was it even worth it? Was anything real?

I remember having nightmares that left me gasping, chest constricted in pain or sympathy with the dream, where I screamed in and felt myself go breathless- again, was this all even real?

Most of me decided it wasn't. Deciding it all happened to be a dream was convenient, even if some weird part of me had reacted as though it were real when I first arrived. It was a very comfortable assumption.

None the less I stayed on my knees, carefully gathering the coins and dropping them in the box. It was something to do. With that done I pulled out a medium sized drawstring bag, one that Nelly had given me to hold all my 'spoils' from the stupid haunted house adventure; I tipped the box, pouring all the coins inside, all the while humming to myself in a off-key way.

I shoved the bag inside my drawstring backpack, then picked up all the pieces of that box, and proceeded to return to the village reluctantly. And then I thought about the... giant bugs.

Holy fudge. I fell to my knees, my face mimicking _The Scream_.

The bugs.

The goddamn King Kong bugs of Avatar World.

Oh, holy mother of chocolate, my skin was crawling. I wanted to pray to every spirit or god then, just to ask them to _please_ not let me get eaten by giant spiders or millipedes. Hell, I'd promise to be a virgin forever, I did NOT want to be gobbled up.

...

Moving on.

I stood and walked into the village, wearing my heavy-arse bag, just in time to nearly be run over by a frantic woman hurtling herself toward the gates. "Oh! Little miss, you're with the Avatar, right? He's trying to leave without you and the Water tribe children!"

For a moment I felt blank confusion, then that all washed away in sudden anger. "Hell no!" I didn't think to thank the woman, which was rude, and then I tossed the toolbox pieces aside, which was worse- then I hurried to stand behind the siblings just as Katara said that she and the world couldn't lose him. I honestly found that sweet.

Aang glanced between Sokka and Katara, looking torn, and when he glanced at me... well, I guess all my emotions were showing, because he sort-of-maybe flinched. Then the young Avatar began talking about a Solstice and jumped onto Appa's neck, making to leave, but the Water Tribe siblings barred the bison's way in a moment.

"We're not letting you go into the Fire Nation, Aang," Katara said, and her voice was stern in a 'I won't take no for an answer' sort of tone.

Sokka smiled and crossed his arms. "At least not without your friends. We got your back." As a second thought Sokka looked at me, frowning. "I don't know about the tag-along though..."

I made a face at Sokka and crossed my arms too, which wasn't really attitude and was more like a shield. "I'll be the first to admit that I'm a coward," I said, trying to sound firm. "But I said I needed help, and I stand by that. May I still come along?"

Aang nodded, face serious and eyes glinting like he just got hit with an idea. "You can, but we'll be going deep into Fire Nation territory. It will be _very_ dangerous, Dana. You should stay here and I promise we'll be back for you."

Katara, the compassionate one and the heart of the trio, looked uneasy, like she wanted to agree and disagree. As far as they knew, I had no fighting ability and I could get myself wounded or killed, which was more right than I liked. I do have background in one Martial Art, though a soft one not very fit for combat, and certainly not with my skills. I hadn't practiced in a year, so calling me a piglet caught in a wolf's den sounded about right to me.

When Aang said to stay and that he'd be back... well, I strongly opposed that for many reasons, like these:

I'd be alone, defenseless and lost. Paranoid as heck.

They leave. Sure. Would they even come back?

Three, if they tried returning, what if they got themselves killed while deviating from the show? I'm essentially an _OC_ here, so going out of their way for me is like going into uncharted waters!

"No!" I stepped forward, making an X with my arms. "Coming back for me would be stupid. _Really_ stupid." I paused, trying to force down the panic. "And sure, you _could_ leave, but would you come back? If you did, what if you got yourselves hurt? Just bring me along, it'll all be less of a hassle."

Sokka rubbed at his forehead. "She has a point, guys. Escaping the Fire Nation could take _weeks_, and circling back just for her would be time consuming and dangerous."

The next minute was a blur as Appa licked Sokka, and Katara was helping me up the bison's tail.

Then... we were flying.

"Holy frijoles!" I squeaked, quickly latching onto a mildly amused Katara. "We- we're freaking flying..."

"Yeah, don't worry though. Appa's the best and Aang's here, so if you somehow fall-" I felt myself pale again, and I clung harder. "-He'll catch you, so don't worry."

"Right, Katara..." My gaze went to the shrinking landscape. "Somehow, I'm not reassured..."

**o0o0o**

After a long and harrowing journey over Fire Nation waters, as well as a damn blockade (through most of which I chanted "Chocolate and gems! Chocolate and gems!") we finally made it to the Crescent Island of the Fire Temple, where I stumbled off of Appa and hugged the nearest (dead) tree, shivering from the adrenaline still in my system.

"Holy crap, I don't think I'll ever get used to that," I said, whining near Momo as it tilted its head curiously in my direction. To my cynical amusement no one noticed my adverse reaction and I watched Sokka stretch and run in one spot as he talked to Katara. She was cooing at Appa, more or less ignoring her brother.

During the last any-number of hours, between my screaming and chanting, I went back and forth on "This ain't real!" and "This is real and I'm gonna die!". I love procrastinating, I love taking my time with things and carefully thinking stuff through, but this wasn't as hard a questionable truth to swallow as I originally thought. With a lingering burn on my shoulder, aching knees and back pain from staying in restricted positions for hours... It was much easier to believe I'm truly in AtLA's world.

So there. Unless I find something to prove otherwise, I'm the unluckiest schmuck this side of Magic-World. Other than Sokka, I mean.

Anyway, I walked toward the group and stopped beside a pouting Sokka. His funny face made it difficult not to smirk.

"Um, you guys?" Katara turned toward me and Aang stepped out to stand beside the waterbender. "Do you three mind if I stay behind with the ten-tonne flying bison?"

Aang nodded, looking relieved. "Good idea. I was thinking it would be safer for you out here. Do you remember Appa's flying command?"

"I do. Yip-yip, right?" Easy enough to remember.

Aang smiled, looking slightly tense and worried; then I walked back to Momo so I could scratch behind its ears. While Aang whispered something to Appa and received a rumble in return, Katara walked over and asked if I would be fine here. I said I felt more calm and just needed time to think, which was the truth.

Several minutes later the Trio and one flying lemur were gone, off to find and talk to Aang's past life, Avatar Roku. This left me to keep myself occupied.

Not an easy task on a barren and rocky area like the one we landed in. There wasn't much to do at all. I wasn't in the mood to waltz around like I was hiking on a Saturday and searching for pretty rocks. There was nothing to do but think, and that was the last thing I wanted. See, I still have the nasty habit of thinking myself into a depressive state. So, instead of letting the anxiety choke me, I did what I do best: distracted myself from unpleasant stuff.

I sat down in front of Aang's animal guide, contemplating it's appearance. Appa had a bison-like face that looked flattened and rounder, smoothly transitioning into a huge body with broad sides and the saddle on its back. Appa's paws- because they were not hooves at all- were fascinating and I looked at them for longer than probably anyone else would. Its fur looked extremely fluffy, white and brown; and with its pudgy cheeks...

Appa was adorable, even when real. Unlike in that one movie I didn't last twelve minutes through. But he's cute, probably because I tend to love any animal I meet.

Watching Appa in his exhausted state left me yawning as the adrenaline wore off. It had been half a day since walking into Avatar Land, which felt very surreal, and even longer since I sat down to relax and sleep. Was it any wonder the rocky ground was looking comfortable enough to nap on?

Being my stubborn self, though, and not looking to die via unexpected ambush, I stood up and slapped my cheeks. "Hey, Appa?" The beast rumbled. "May I pet you?"

Some may find it weird that I was asking permission, but I think Appa, with that gigantic cranium, had to have a big brain. Which, by default, made it intelligent to me.

Appa rumbled again and rolled to its stomach. I grinned because it- alright, I recall Cordelia calling Appa a he- understood me! Timidly I reached out toward the giant herbivore, hardly touching him as I scratched the fur above his nose. Appa moved suddenly and I yelped but didn't run off. The gentle beast started sniffing my hair- believe me, it feels weird enough when cats do it- and then sniffed the clothes on my stomach, all very carefully. Then he pulled back and turned to sneeze.

I couldn't help laughing at that. "Yeah, I smell funny. My world's pretty stinky..."

Appa snorted, like he was agreeing and I smiled widely. Again I stretched out my arm, moving slow to not startle Appa accidentally, and I rubbed the same spot I scratched. Moments after this Appa's eyes closed in enjoyment. The longer I petted Appa the more I relaxed, which is sort of amusing now that I think of it. Even in another world and its a house-sized flying creature, animals still have a way of bringing me peace.

"This world isn't going to be easy for me...," I said, more to myself than Appa. "What with giant bug monsters, psychotic firebender's, and a war I have no interest in, I guess I'll see what happens. Maybe I could live in a village and just be a waitress or something..."

For as long as I could manage, I talked to Appa and avoided anything that touched down on my family. Eventually the thoughts I tried avoiding most slipped out.

"Will I be able to go home?" I whispered, caught in a mind-fog as I stared into one of Appa's intelligent eyes. "Or am I supposed to live out my life in a crazy world like this, never seeing my loved ones again...?"

It took Appa rumbling softly and nudging my head with his nose for me to notice the warm tears dribbling down my cheeks, that's how lost in thought I was. At the gentle beasts insistent nudge, I blinked, shaking off the stubborn sweet memories attacking me.

Maybe it was just me, but I found crying to be a nice release. Cathartic. So I'm not ashamed to cry, at least not where I could be found and, thus, worry anyone. Appa showing what I perceived as concern had me disappointed with myself for causing it.

I was never the most optimistic or- or_ trusting _person- but my time in the Avatar World would be one very long exercise in conscious efforts to think _positive,_ trust the Gaang should I stick with them, and (complete?) avoidance of cynical pessimism, and my own self-deprecative twisted sense of humor. No promises on that last, though.

So. This is me thinking Happy-Happy-Joy-Joy:

There could be lots of amazing crystals to find, things even the most learned gemologist/mineralogist couldn't dream of. Maybe mythological creatures in Earth exist here, like dragons and griffins, or a mermaid-thing. Maybe I could be an element bender, like earth or water. And, hey, the place can't be _that bad_ with beasties like Appa in it. Or, better than all of that, even the discovering of awesome sparklies, maybe I'll find myself an animal friend, like Aang found in Momo.

That would be the best.

"Thanks Appa," I said, smiling and patting him again. "I feel better, kind of."

Appa snorted and yawned, which made me 'eep', and he rolled onto his side again.

Thinking all positive like gave me an idea.

Could I earthbend? Was it possible? If so, it would be a small relief if I could to protect myself.

Eagerly I hurried away from Appa, for safety reasons, and settled into a poor stance by a downward slope. I had my feet spread wide, body angled for balance, and I held both arms up in a vaguely defensive way.

Think _earth_. Feel the ground and how solid it is; understand, rock does not bend or bow, earth could be like clay. Earth could become what I want it to be... I concentrated on the rock in front of me, focused so much my head began hurting, and I punched my fist forward like a snake. Then a great wave of earth erupted, forming a wicked wall of shimmering spikes. Oh yeah, I'd be epic.

...

Yeah, I'm joking. Nothing happened.

Nada.

I dropped down onto my butt, not caring if my stupid costume got dirty, and contemplated what let earthbender's control their element.

In more than ten minutes I'm almost ashamed to say this is all I came up with: an earthbender should be like the element they control; inexorable, persistent, and enduring. Since I'm not the most steadfast person when it comes to making decisions and being a Tough-B, I probably won't be an earthbender. I probably won't be anything.

But still, I knew there were_ some _earthy traits to me, I just couldn't really think of any...

I groaned, feeling frustrated and mildly violent. Instead of sitting and pondering over my failure any longer I stood and settled into a stance once more.

Seconds passed, my breath slowed and evened out, mimicking my quieted thoughts. Acrid, overly-hot air blew through the area around Appa and I, tickling my nose and making me sweat. Every five seconds I would envision the small rock flying ahead of me, quick as a darting mouse.

By one minute I felt almost ready. By two, with a jittery excitement beginning to bubble over, I took one last deep breath and punched the air one more time...

The rock skittered one foot away.

I stood frozen, feeling excitement rushing up and threatening to break loose in a shrill yell of victory. A minute later, just when I was about to start jumping up and down, mentally screaming 'In your face, World!', the ground shook slightly and the rock jumped forward on the incline.

"Well frick," I muttered, sagging to my knees and ignorant of the incoming hell. "And here I hoped I wouldn't be totally useless..."

Appa rolled to his feet seconds before the ground began cracking, allowing bright lava to seep up in building spurts. I was screaming before I realized I was even running up Appa's tail, and he took to the air without me shrieking yip-yip.

"H-hey, Appa, let's go to that tower! I bet the all-important statue is up there..." Or, at least, I tried saying that beyond the terrified babbling I was spewing.

As Appa sailed higher and higher, Momo suddenly landed on the bison's head, chattering quickly and jumping back up and speeding toward the tower. Appa followed Momo, and within moments or minutes in which lava burst from the towers top in a shower of molten death, Appa had stopped beneath the tower-top and the Gaang was in the saddle that I was clinging to like a leech.

They were breathing heavily and watching Crescent Island begin sinking down in bubbling lava, like a scene from some disaster movie turned real. We all escaped from that area fast, hidden by clouds that gathered near the eruption.

I was, quite effing frankly, feeling faint and decided to speak and get my mind off of the lava.

"So... how'd everything go?"

**o0o0o**

Sozin's Comet.

That sounded damn familiar and, since I was actually in the world where I could be killed for helping Aang, very horrific.

Yay.

Nights in Avatar Land were beautiful, breathtaking. The sky was like a global picture of deep space, showing countless specks of glittering lights whereas, in my urban world, I was lucky to see twenty stars at any time. I was also mesmerized by the sight, lying back-first on Appa's saddle and hugging my bag close with one arm.

I looked to the side, just to see how the quiet trio was doing, and did so at the worst time. For me anyway. They were hugging Aang, offering silent reassurance that they would be there for him during his times of hard training

Watching them hug him... Well, I'm not proud to say I felt ridiculously jealous. A nice hug would make me feel a little better and less alone. Hugs make nearly anything better.

I sighed, tugging my infernal hair sullenly. With movements as quiet as I could make, I opened my bag and pulled out Bonbon before curling up on my side with it hugged tightly to my chest.

Behind me I heard the trio start talking quietly, and nothing they said could be heard above the gentle roar of the wind blowing by.

Rushing wind, free of pollution and modern smells. Countless feet above unyielding ground, resting atop a giant flying mammal. Everything I love lay beyond reach, separated by worlds...

An ache began building up in my head, worsened by the tight knot in my throat brought on from trying not to cry. It was mostly a failure since the stupid tears started leaking free anyway, but I shoved my face into Bonbon's back and I triumphed in keeping my breathing relatively calm. The familiar smell of home helped.

That night I told myself to stop crying from that day forward. Life from then on would be what I made of it, whether I'm stuck dreaming within a dream or not.

No more crying...

I could cry when- _if_- there was no hope of seeing home.

* * *

**xXx**

* * *

**AN: My apologies for writing such a sad ending, but things will pick up in a less lamentable way. *looks around shiftily* I promise!**

**PS- NO, the epic Toph will not be replaced by my bungling OC. :D I'd never dream of that! D:**


	3. Chapter Three

**PRE-PUBLISHING EDIT: I reluctantly let the story stagnate and be forgotten by anyone reading it because I was stuck in THIS part. Particularly I was stuck on making the transition between not believing Dana and taking her words as truth. It was frustrating as frick, more than dealing with horny cats that won't shut the frick up.**

**** If you want to go home as soon as possible, why hide your situation? Also, there's a repercussion from her originally being from a spiritually deadened world like Earth, but this will be addressed in another chapter.**

* * *

**Arc I, New World part 3.**

* * *

Roughly a day passed after the Crescent Island Destruction, and the time was filled by mostly silence from me since I was doing my damndest to be a... saddle-flower? Either way, I went more-or-less overlooked by Sokka and the questions I saw in his eyes whenever I glanced at him and the gang. It was disturbing, the catching his eyes _every dang time_ thing.

At some point I passed out while Appa was still in flight, and I woke up to our landing in a forest while the sun began to set behind us. I was in a daze while they hurried to make camp, but I managed to help a bit by bringing the sleeping bags down for them. The sky was a darkening orange-purple when we all gathered around said fire, with the siblings sitting on their sleeping bags, Aang on Appa's head, and me huddled beside the unopened sleeping bag I guessed was for me. Katara handed out food and water skins earlier and we were quietly eating.

Aang had been off-kilter, thinking and staring off into the distance, and the two Water Tribe siblings spent the time trying to coax him out of it. They succeeded, mostly, where the airbender was concerned; and now, as we were settling down to a night of sleep, I was feeling exhaustion come over me with a vengeance.

I watched the fire dance in the gentle, chilly breeze, concentrating on the swaying flames that helped clear my thoughts away. My eyelids felt like lead.

... And then a rock hit me in the forehead.

"Ow!" I flinched and glared around, particularly at Sokka. "Okay, who the heck threw that?"

The older teen in question leaned forward, frowning heavily. "I did, and- ow! Katara, don't hit me!"

"Then don't throw rocks, Sokka. I thought you were more mature than that."

Sokka turned his head away from Katara and rolled his eyes. "Dana, we need to ask you some questions."

I felt like I'd been turned to stone, that's how tense I was. "Uh, ah, ask away..." And condemn me, oh Ponytail Grinch. Why couldn't this wait till morning? I would be thinking with more than one-quarter brain power.

Sokka squinted at me, probably thinking up _all_ the questions I did not want to be answering yet.

"Alright, good. Where are you from and why do you need Aang's help?"

Yep, see? Though it's an obvious query, it was the last question I wanted to hear first, right next to: "How did you know Aang is the Avatar if you're from another world?"

To be frank, on the outside I probably looked sick, but on the inside I was throwing anvils at his head a la Looney Tunes. _Alright- deep breaths, just go with your gut. _I never lied when I followed my gut, but then again I tended to get in trouble. _No, tell the truth and be done with it!_ Lying would only make my time away from home longer, I couldn't do that. Besides, I lie with the same fail-skill as a certain rubber pirate, and if I said something cliche like amnesia I would definitely Eff up somewhere, guaranteed. _I can do this, if not... well, I'll deal with the consequences like a good semi-responsible person._

Once I felt calm enough to not stutter like Porky Pig, I pulled Bonbon the lion close and spoke slowly. "There's... there's no point in lying, I wanna go home. So, I'm not... really from your world."

Sokka's jaw dropped, disbelief and anger was written all over his face. "Do you really think we'd believe that kind of- of _crap_? We aren't idiots!"

Katara was frowning, but at least she didn't look angry. Thankfully Aang looked more interested than disbelieving when he jumped from Appa's head to land before me in a crouch.

"Hold on, Sokka," Aang said, turning his head to shoot the boy a faint look, and then he turned back to me with a tiny smile. "Are you really from another world?"

I nodded, struggling to force down hope that Aang would believe. Hope wasn't very nice when it liked to make people plummet off a ledge and into the stalagmites hundreds of feet below.

"That's right," I said. "Before walking out of the bamboo I was in an old house, exploring for things. I was up in the attic and... creepy white eyes started following me, then I fell... right through the floor to your world."

Aang moved to the side and sat, tilting his head thoughtfully. "Are there any spirits where you live? Maybe one of them brought you here."

I shrugged, tugging on Bonbon's one ear. "As far as I knew they were all fictional, but... I guess some might be real. I don't know which though."

Aang nodded and seemed to think deeply. I peeked at the Water Tribe siblings, only to flinch at the glower Sokka wore, while Katara seemed thoughtful.

"Say we believe you," Katara said, frowning while petting Momo absently. "Did you really come through the Spirit World? And do you have proof?"

"Uh, maybe," I said, shrugging helplessly. "I only know what I told you guys. After falling the next thing I know is the half wrecked village place, and I..."

"Spirits don't do things without reason," Aang said, still caught in his thoughts. "Whatever, whoever it is, there's gotta be a reason it brought you here."

I shrugged and glowered at the ground. "I'm just a kid who likes pretty rocks, candy, and stars. There's nothing special about me."

"Proof!" Sokka yelled suddenly, successfully scaring off my exhaustion for the moment. "Do you have any? If not, we are leaving you in the next village we find. I don't trust you."

Okay, he was starting to tick me off, and I like to think I'm not easy to anger. I stuck my tongue out at Sokka in lieu of the middle finger and yanked my bag closer. I rolled out my sleeping-mat-thing and then quickly dumped everything out before digging around in the piles of stuff in search of- aha. I picked up the small flashlight (Evil Eyes only knows how it got there), a book on rocks and gemstones I'd packed, my old DS, my MP3, a novel, and my moody cellphone.

"Look, these are things from my world, things that shouldn't exist here." I held out the items piled on the book and squinted suspiciously at the trio. "Go ahead and take a look, but if anyone breaks something I might get mildly violent."

Hey, the things were my only connections to home, of course I'd be a little defensive.

Sokka came forward and snatched the 'torch from my book, nearly knocking everything else off. Aang tilted his head and carefully picked up my little game-system and could not turn it on. I clicked the power button on my cell and waved at Katara before holding it out to her.

The three talked amongst themselves, looking surprised and intrigued.

I watched them and had to pinch my cheek hard to scare off sleepiness and stark fear. "Uh, how about I talk about my world for a bit? Before I pass out again?"

Sokka squinted at me, opening his mouth to say something, but Katara and Aang told me to go ahead. Ponytail Boy pouted angrily.

With their permission granted, and the unfortunate help of mental exhaustion stripping me of common sense, I started rambling about anything that popped into my head, from the buildings and schools, to TV and movies and butchering the explanations for them. I spoke a bit about science and medical advances, how some people have prosthetic limbs that move, cars and X-rays...

It... got a little morbid- okay, alot- when I started talking about the darker things in Earth, how the land is burned and torn, taking away animals homes to make civilization. I mentioned some of the wars and that there are terrible people that start genocides and... Well, I half ended it off at comparing the simplest difference.

"First, picture my home as... Sokka, while Aang is this world," I said, ignoring the bigger teens grumbling and my growing headache. "One can bend elements and the other is normal and clever, if a little dim at times." Here I ignored Sokka's growl. "My world doesn't really have any spirits or gods like this one does. Or, at least none that can be proven. And I'm pretty sure there's no magic or anything outside of books."

Throughout the ramble I tried hard to keep loud and clear. Katara and Aang had listened politely, with Sokka scoffing, sneering or flinching slightly, and they all reacted to the different ups and downs of my world in understandable horror and, possibly, confused awe- except Sokka, he glowered when not visibly reacting to words. After mentioning the lack of spirits and getting into mythology and key difference between our worlds, the two element benders leaned forward, fascinated. Sokka, while I spoke of mythology, just rolled his eyes.

Katara sat forward, still wearing a look of fascination. "So, like the moon and sun, right? Your world has life, land and air, but that's where the differences end?"

I nodded, smiling at her. "That's right, Katara."

I stretched, trying to will away tension in my back, and yawned.

"What's this?" At Sokka's voice I stopped stretching and saw him pick up my precious bag of sparklies. Being the not-so-genius I am, I didn't think before tackling him.

"Ack! She's trying to kill me! Katara, freeze her!" Sokka somehow rolled when I tackled him and his back was making a nice seat as I pulled on one of his arms enough to mostly immobilize him.

Aang, bless him, hopped to my side, eyeing the heavy black velvet bag. "Is that really important?"

"It's very precious to me. It's got my treasure in it, so I'd rather not let Sokka's grubby hands touch them without his washing up first."

"I can hear you, ya know! I am not grubby! I keep very clean, thanks, and get off me!"

"But you make such a good, seat, Sokka-dear," I said, winking at Aang and earning a giggle from him. See how I get crazy without sleep?

"Get off before I sic Appa on you!"

Caught up in the moment, I looked at the sleepy bison and waved. "Are you going to sit on me?" Appa chuffed and rolled over, looking very uninterested. That made Aang laugh harder.

"Alright, enough tormenting my brother," Katara said, smiling wryly with one hand on a hip "I think he's learned not to touch other peoples things without permission now."

I did as asked, feeling less emotion-heavy now that I'd had some out-of-my-character fun. Sokka rolled over and sat up, glowering at me as though hoping I would turn to dust if he glared enough. Whoops, maybe I dented his male pride. I kind of did feel bad about that... Being spazzy and crazy like that wasn't normal for me unless I was with close friends.

"Er... right," I said, settling back near my pile of stuff and avoiding Sokka's eyes now that I felt like a total B. "You guys have seen my technology. Now I have candy, a book on rocks and gemstones, and a collection of earth crystals." I eyed each of them, absently noting how they were all getting hazy and doubling. "Anyone interested in something in particular?"

Aang wanted candy, Katara wanted the education-book, and Sokka asked to see my rocks. Before I showed each of them the aforementioned items I carefully turned off my tech and stowed it all. I gave Aang a sugar-free blueberry sweet and the Water Tribe siblings got what they wanted to see, though only at my discretion. Katara was told to treat the book like a newborn creature, with the utmost care. I took a small bag out of my Holder of Sparklies, and showed Sokka a handful of pretty rocks.

Somewhere between Katara asking me to read something from the book, since English was very unlike whatever these guys read, and Sokka poking through the rocks I showed him, as well as Aang begging for more sweets before Katara told him not to rot his teeth, I passed out.

About time, darn it.

**o0o**

"Sokka! Why are you going through her bag? We went through this last night, she's not a threat."

What, why is that voice familiar? I rolled over, too groggy, and tried to sleep. But another voice stabbed my ears.

"Ow! Katara, we tried everything short of slapping her and she wouldn't wake up! Why NOT check her bag? She could be hiding something. Maybe secret Fire Nation codes or incriminating evidence!"

"Sokka, she's from another world! And besides, even if she was Fire Nation she's still a little kid, Sokka. It wouldn't be right to condemn her because of it."

Ugh, why must I always forget to turn the darn TV off? And why the heck do I hear waves on a beach? No, no, just roll over and keep sleeping. Do it, wench.

"Hey, guys?" said a younger voice from close by. "I think she's waking up! She's making funny faces."

Finally I couldn't take it anymore. I wanted sleep! I sat up with fuzzy vision and was nearly blinded by sunlight, so I clenched my eyes closed and blindly tore the blankets off to step out of bed... Only to yelp when my knee ended up crunching against a rock.

"What the...hell?" I stared around, confused.

A beach was indeed a ways off, just barely close enough to hear. Dense forest surrounded a convenient clearing around me and the camp site I'd just woken up in, and everyone/everything from my vivid not-dream was staring at me. Minus a sleeping bison.

"Crap." I groaned and smacked my forehead before falling back on a soft thing beneath me. "Not a dream... or am I dreaming? Maybe I'm vividly dreaming up my painful knee and..."

"Uh, Dana?" It was a girl who spoke- no, it was Katara. She sounded close by, but I kept my eyes closed. "Is your knee okay?"

I grunted and flopped back onto my sleeping bag, then rolled over away from her voice. "I'll live... thanks for asking."

"Oh, okay... Are you hungry? It's lunch time and you weren't up for breakfast."

"No. Um, thanks though," I said while waving a hand I hoped she saw. I curled around Bonbon, concentrating on keeping calm.

"Alright, well I'll keep the nuts in a bag in case you're hungry later..." Katara stood, crunching dirt beneath her feet. "Oh, just so you know, Sokka went though your bag."

First I felt red-hot womanly-rage, then I felt like crying, and then I just felt defeated. Going through my bag, what _else _would he see? My books, my phone, my DS, the precious candy, my sparklies... and, uh. Something very precious. What the heck is it- oh, crap.

My music.

Mother Effing yay.

I jerked up, clenching my mouth shut to keep in whatever nasty words wanting to escape to offensive freedom. I clutched BonBon close, gazing around the camp site again, and noticed Sokka hunched over my music. He was sitting on his own bedroll with everything of mine out in the open. He'd put the candy in one pile, my sparkly contained collection to the side with the coin-miscellaneous-bag, and lastly, a bunch of objects sat in front of him: my gemstone book and the novel, AND my previously mentioned tech.

"S-so, big guy... what's the verdict on me?" I sat beside the older boy, nervously clutching BonBon and waiting for the sentence. I could feel that my face was twisted in fear and worry.

Sokka did not look pleased. Whether it was because he decided to believe I was actually an alien or because he wanted to toss me over a cliff and wasn't allowed to, I couldn't know for sure.

"You have some items that look like they work on magic. Two books printed on paper not made of animal skin or any plant fiber that _I_ know of and written in a weird language..." He grit his teeth and tossed a candy at me. "Even all the sweets here have the weird symbols." Sokka smacked his forehead, possibly in defeat I hoped. "Plus there's the hand-held light that works without any flame..."

Sokka made a face and hunched over, poking at the pile of candy like an angry kid told he wasn't allowed any. "Alright, alright, from all this evidence. I _guess_ you could be from some other world. Or a really, really far away land."

I was about to jump up and fist-pump in triumph when he said, "Could you explain your... technology things?" He pointed at them.

Reluctantly I scooted closer and picked up my DS and opened it carefully, avoiding any unneeded stress on the fragile effing hinges. I set it on Sokka's sleeping-roll and pressed the on-button, watching as the light came on and the screen flickered to life.

"Whoa! How'd you do that?" Aang said, making me jump because I hadn't noticed him. He leaned forward and poked the screen.

"What is it?" Katara said as she walked closer with head tilted in a curious manner.

"It's... a game." I spoke slowly, trying to plan out how to make them all believe me fully. "Would anyone like to play?"

"I do! I do!" Aang waved his arm, grinning widely. I smiled, probably looking constipated, and handed him the DS with instructions to be careful because of the weak hinges. Though Aang didn't understand a thing, he liked that the character moved when he pressed the buttons.

"What about this?" Sokka said, waving my flashlight. "It doesn't have a flame, how does it glow? Did you trap a super powerful firefly in this?"

I almost laughed. Thankfully I didn't and instead pointed at the button. "It's... electric. Do you know what that means?"

Sokka gasped, looking mistrustful and delighted at the same time. "Are you pulling my leg? You mentioned it in your mind-numbing ramble last night, but I didn't think you'd have anything like it."

With a shrug I removed the batteries and handed them to Sokka with a short explanation saying that they powered the light.

A ball of sharp nerves was trying to make me a stuttering mess, but I shoved that away and picked up my phone.

Gotta keep calm. In the words of a Cow-brat, gotta tolerate. Somehow I couldn't shake off the notion that these guys could and would dump me away and forget about my existence.

"This," I waved the device in front of Sokka. "Is communications technology that won't work here. But..." I clicked the power button, letting the start-up jingle fill the clearing. The background image on my phone was bittersweet, given the circumstances and my happy-jolly attitude. My intention was to show them a video I recorded of Cordi's kittens chasing a laser up a wall, but I paused to stare at my phone. I was dimly aware that Aang and the siblings had crowded to see the phone.

"Hey, is that your mom?" Aang asked, voice softer than a breeze.

A lump in my throat suddenly attempted to choke me, but I swallowed and nodded, unwilling to speak. I turned the phone off, noticing its full battery. There were lots of pictures to be found, but I didn't want to waste the energy.

"So!" I shoved the phone back into a side pocket of my bag and clapped both hands. "Who wants to look through my scintillating book on pretty rocks? Katara flipped though it already, and it's in my native language, but..."

My words hit me like a brick after I finished talking. I speak English, so what do _they_ speak?

Sokka had the same brick-to-face expression. "Wait, if you speak a different language, how in the heck are you speaking to us?"

A nervous, choked giggle escaped the lump in my throat. "I- I was just wondering that too, Sokka. I don't know, honestly, but now it's going to drive me nuts..."

Sokka sat with the flashlight, turning it on and off for a few moments. Then he started tapping his chin with it and, possibly, thinking very hard. More questions. Yay, I could feel the joy rolling off of me in flower-wilting waves.

Aang sat with my gemology book in his lap and Katara was to his left, pointing at all the crystals she found prettiest. He flipped page after page to look at the stunning crystals and minerals, looking visibly fascinated by all the images of exotic places and caves. When he finished examining everything interesting he handed the book to Katara and turned to me, a serious look in his eyes.

"This is what you meant by impossible, isn't it?" Aang was referring to the moment I bowed and said I would go away if he couldn't help.

Hardly nodding in answer, I dropped my gaze to the colorful candy and pulled Bonbon to my face, trying to hide my fear again. Bonbon smelled of home, like Sunlight detergent and green tea perfume. I flinched at the scent, suddenly not liking it this time around, and dropped my sleep-aid into my lap with a frown.

Aang stood and sat down beside of me, sitting in the same cross-legged position he usually uses. "Do you have any idea how or why you're here?"

Reluctantly I glanced up from Bonbon's badly sown on replacement button eye and saw how serious and willing Aang looked. I suddenly felt so selfish, wanting his help when a whole _world_ needed his power and guidance to right itself and be free from a psychotic bastard of a Firelord. But, people are entitled to some selfishness every once in a while, right? I wanted to be selfish for myself and family, but, at the same time, I wanted to leave him alone so he wouldn't have a useless non-bender girl who can't fight very well at all hanging off his Gaang...

"I can't really say, but..." Isn't Samhain, Hallowe'en, the day spirits come back to visit loved ones? The day when that wall between Material and Spiritual is thinnest? "There's a festival in Earth called Samhain, it's more-or-less like the Solstices here. It was Samhain when I came through."

Aang brightened up. "Maybe you can go home on a Solstice then!"

Those white eyes, what about them? I'd been repressing the memory of them, avoiding the fear they flooded me with. I suddenly felt faint. If... if my being here was an accident, what the _hell_ is with the demon-spirit-god thing that scared the fudge out of me? For my sanity I hope it was a mind-trick.

"Hey, Dana?" Aang put a hand on my shoulder, shaking gently. "You look pale, tell me what's wrong."

When I looked at Aang, he had such a concerned expression I couldn't keep quiet, so I said I'd had a disturbing flashback to the white eyes.

"So all you saw was its eyes? Nothing else?"

Nod, nod, pitiful frown from me.

"Hm, I think I can meditate and go the Spirit World if we find someplace spiritual, then I can ask around for you!"

Wait, what. Logic dictates that his idea is good and would work. Paranoia dictates that _that_ is just asking the damn monster to come around and eat my soul, then use my body to possibly mutilate the Gaang and go on a long murderous rampage across the land.

...

It's really these particular times when I hate my imaginative brain. Seriously. There's gotta be something wrong with me.

"No, no!" F to the K, no. "Leave the creepy-bastard spirit alone, I don't want you looking for it, Aang, that might be a bad idea. Like, body possession, murderous rampage kind of Bad Idea."

Aang had the cutest WTF expression on before he pouted and wisely ignored that last sentence. "But it might help you, Dana. If it can, why not let me take the risk?"

I looked at the clouds, asking for strength from nothing. "Because you're you, Aang. I'm a brat from another world, I'm not worth it. No one, especially you, should take that risk."

Something smacked by head and I yelped. Turning to look, I saw it was Katara eyeing me with sadness and disappointment. "Dana, I don't know why you seem to think so little of yourself, but you know Aang is the Avatar. It's his job to commune with spirits and gods."

I blinked at her, wondering why Katara cared so much, but then again it is her after all. She seems the mothering type, unlike me.

"I don't think... I'm a bag of crap, Katara," I said, speaking weakly like a champion wimp. "But... finding that spirit... I don't think its necessary. What if- what if I was just seeing and hearing things? Aang would be completely wasting his precious time."

Katara sighed and looked toward Aang. "What do you think?"

"If Dana really doesn't want me to, I guess I shouldn't," the boy muttered, eyeing me curiously. I nodded. "Alright, that's settled then, but I'll do it as a last resort."

I sighed. "That's all I can ask. Thank you Aang."

Two minutes later, during which I sat petting a curious Momo who tried stealing my candy, I called Sokka over because I had one last thing to show-and-tell: my MP3. While I allowed the trio ten minutes each to play my Harvest Moon: Rune Factory, I let them listen to a single song too.

As for the game session, Sokka was the first and had the hardest time of it. Katara caught on quick enough to the controls, and Aang was last and had the easiest time from earlier experience and observation.

**o0o0o**

Later on with Appa flying high among the clouds, I was idly wondering what it would be like to jump in one and see how soft it would be before getting soaked and falling to my drawn out doom. Bonbon was in my lap, a comfort I was having out with me more and more.

"Hey, I just thought of something..." I turned to see Sokka sit up, looking like a rage-inducing hippopotamus slapped him, and then he stared with a glare in my direction for the first time since my Earth ramble. "You're from another world, so _how_ would you know about Aang being the Avatar? Better yet, how would know what that even _means_?"

"Well, fuck." I felt myself shrink down, eyes wide. "Um... I- I can explain?"

* * *

**xXx**

* * *

**WELL, how's this gonna play out? Dun dun dunnn! Did I make the Gaangs semi-belief in Dana's story at least a little believable? ALSO, if someone thinks I should write shorter chapters, just tell me. I can roll with that.**


	4. Chapter Four

**AN: This chapter could be what breaks this fic. Please tell me if it's terrible. **

**And, uh, I know people don't like taking the time to do so, but might someone be willing to point out a mistake or two I've probably made here?**

**oOo**

**Arc 1 End, Arc II Thievery Part 1.**

**oOo**

Fear is not a funny thing when you're feeling it and not watching it play out across someone's face through a glass screen.

It was scary enough when I explained my Other-Worlder status. Now? If emotions could physically mutate someone, I would be an amoeba.

Katara was quicker with her reaction. When I swore she immediately covered a stunned looking Aang's ears and glared daggers at me. "Don't swear like that, it's a horrible habit! Why do you even know that word? You don't look any older than Aang."

I resisted the urge to say, "Well, believe it or not, I'm actually your age! Ain't that funny?" Instead I apologized and glanced over the side, only to flinch at our distance from the ground.

"Um, I... I have a last request. Could Appa fly lower? Then when Sokka tosses me overboard I might not die..."

Aang pushed Katara's hands away and frowned. "No one's tossing anyone off of Appa."

Sokka growled and smacked his fist on the saddle. "Can we get back to the point already? This girl knew who you were before even meeting you, Aang. Doesn't that bother you? She knows about you. How can that be? Screw being from another world and screw the evidence, she's got to be a trick from the Fire Nation."

Suddenly I wanted to be Homer Simpson and make Sokka play Bart.

"I'm _not_ Fire Nation, Sokka," I said, practically growling the words in my frustration. "In my world, and I freaking _wish_ I could magically show you my memories... there are things like _TV_ with moving pictures and sound. Remember me mentioning that?"

Sokka crossed his arms, tense and angry. "So what, that doesn't explain your knowledge of Aang."

"Well..." I reluctantly took out my cellphone. There was a highly convenient and very distinctive set of photos containing several AtLA plushies that Cordelia made from fleece and cotton in the phones memory- a highly detailed Aang plushie, specifically. Aha. Moving slowly, trying not to trigger Sokka's mad-beast skills to toss me like a baseball, I showed Aang the photo (which he gawked at), then Katara (who gasped), and finally Sokka, to which he pulled a dramatic face-palm.

"Um... just to clarify, my friend made that. Not me. I fail at sewing."

"What, is Aang some kind of God or idol in your world?" Sokka said in a cracked 'What the hell!' voice.

This... was not going to be easy. Before saying another word I went to the video files on my phone and clicked on a three minute clip of Nelly's five-week old kittens, now gone, chasing a blue laser across the floor and part way up a wall in her living room.

"Watch this before I talk," I said, feeling tense and sick. I held out my phone toward them, grip tight and shaky.

Sokka complained for a moment, but soon he and the other two gaped in awe. Aang almost smiled at the kitten video before I flipped my phone closed.

"That was a video. Picture... imagine that as moving drawings... with coloring and sound," I said haltingly, struggling against what may have been the start of a panic attack. "There is a _TV show_ about you three, the Hundred Year War, and about Aang's Avatar role here..."

Immediately Sokka's hand darted forward and gripped my wrist, almost painfully. "Alright, say we believe you... Then you could be a valuable asset, if you've... watched this show about us."

My first instinct was to punch Sokka for grabbing me, which I did not. Second was to start crying, which I also did not. Instead I quickly grabbed his thumb and bent it back until he let go with a sharp satisfying noise of pain.

Katara elbowed Sokka, somehow managing to look irritated at him and unnerved by me. "Haven't you learned not to grab people by now?"

Clearing my throat, I spoke. "I'll tell you what I know... just promise me there will be no tossing of tiny teenagers off the bison," I said, clenching a hand on Appa's saddle, paranoid as ever.

Aang waved his hand, with a tight, highly unnerved smile as he settled down beside his friends. "I said you wouldn't be tossed off, Dana... Please, start talking."

I nodded and closed my eyes, thinking harder than ever back to the time when I started watching the show. It was at a difficult point in my life with family drama and crap; so thinking back and not avoiding unsavory memories seemed to open a little door to the few episodes I watched. What a nice reprieve, and I don't completely mean that in a sarcastic way.

"Alright," I sat forward, watching my hands and twisting my fingers. "The first episode is _The Boy in the Iceberg._ Sokka and Katara are out hunting. Katara is using waterbending to catch a fish, and true to Sokka's awful luck, he lifts his spear right when the fish holding water ball is directly above his head."

A small snort caught my attention; looking up, I saw Katara struggling not to smile and avoiding my eyes. I continued, trying not to smile too. "Sokka complains, Katara mentions... something about Sokka ogling his stringy muscles in the water every time he sees his reflection."

"My muscles are not stringy," Sokka said in a low grumble. I looked up to see his arms crossed and him eyeing me in a distinctly displeased way.

"Uh... You guys start having trouble in the ice-drifts and the currents, then the boat gets crushed in ice... after that, my memory is fuzzy until Sokka angers Katara with ridiculously sexist words ... thus making her break a very large iceberg in her wrath while ranting and mentioning Sokka's toxic socks..."

"True. Sokka has a way with words. And his feet are lethally smelly," Katara said to herself with laughter in her voice. I kept staring at my hands this time.

"Er, the round iceberg Aang was in comes up from below, and Katara doesn't abandon him when his glowing eyes open. She takes Sokka's club-thingy, and cracks it open." The cold air above the clouds felt nice despite how uncomfortable I felt. "Aang woke up and said something about penguin sledding..."

"That's right! I remember," Aang said, voice cheery and giving me a small comfort. Still, my eyes were glued to my hands, in case watching the twisting digits was helping my memory.

"So do I," Katara said, agreeing. "There's no way for you to know this if what you say isn't true."

I looked up then, a shaky smile of hope on my face. She nodded for me to continue. Aang was petting Momo, and I suddenly felt like cuddling with Marin, my own little lap-cat. Sokka grunted and muttered for me to keep going.

And I did. I went over the rest of _The Boy in the Iceberg_ and then the other five episodes. What I did not do, because it felt very wrong, was telling them about Zuko and his parts in the episodes. It was difficult working around Zuko's and co's parts, but since I did Sokka a solid by not mentioning his kiss with the-girl-I-could-not-remember, it was worth it, I felt.

"In all, I only watched six episodes before personal issues drew me away from it," I said, looking up and catching each of their eyes. "I'm sorry, really."

Aang, for the most part, seemed interested and, at the same time, extremely disturbed. "So... th-thousands of people watch our adventures... know our stories and... they watch _us_... that's...," the boy struggled for a word.

"Creepy," I said helpfully. He nodded, avoiding my gaze and rubbing Momo's back.

Katara, on the other hand, looked irritated and caught my gaze. "Why did you try hiding this from us?"

"Well, for one... so I wouldn't get the looks you three are giving me," I said, cringing miserably. "For another, it wouldn't be of any use besides creeping you three out."

Sokka groaned and face-palmed. "So you're useless. That's just great."

Katara smacked him and Aang airbended himself on top of Appa's head.

Despite how they weren't pitchforks-and-torches angry, it still felt like betrayal hung heavy in the air around me.

Darn it...

That would make my candy taste bitter.

**i0i0i**

The next hours were filled with silence (directed mostly toward me) and a smothering atmosphere thick enough to choke elephants.

How wonderful. Do note the sarcasm.

I spent the time picking through my candy and eating what I liked least, then shoving the wrappers in a side pocket. Hm, that brought up a different matter- what about dental hygiene? Do they have toothbrushes and some kind of... tooth powder or something? I hoped so. If not the rest of this stuff is going to Appa or Momo. Maybe I have a toothbrush somewhere in my bag.

... Nope. No convenient toothbrush.

Must be in the other bag I kept my clothes, which is unreachable for the moment.

That's enough candy for now.

Anyway, the trio talked a bit to one another. Aang started voicing worries about his time crunch concerning elemental training, but I was mostly treated like I wasn't there. Not that I expected differently.

... Where _did_ that self-directed promise to be a sunnier me go? I wonder. Such a mystery.

I almost wish I was an angry person. The treatment would have pissed me off, but I wasn't. All I could think of was how much of a shock it was for them to hear some nutjob stranger with impossible gadgets spew facts about their lives and current escapades that no one should know about.

That would horrify anyone. I know I would have gone for a Kick-to-the-Balls or a Face-Palm of Doom on the (whichever gender) bastard.

Maybe I overstepped my boundaries, though, when I whispered to Sokka that I knew about his kiss with Suki and did him a favor by keeping my trap shut.

... Yeah. That's probably it. He nearly throttled me, and Aang and Katara had to hold him back.

Someone really should slap a dunce hat on me, seriously.

Or let me sleep more. Sleep is my brain food.

**i0i0i**

Eventually Aang landed by a waterfall and the large, calm river flowing from it. I was in awe, staring happily at the crystalline waters. Would there be any pretty stones there? I had to check, but I didn't have a whole lot of extra clothing on me, not unless I was willing to swim in a black sports bra and girl boxershorts.

Haha. Hell no.

Being the natural Wallflower-In-New-Territory that I am, I sat far away from the river and hung my bag on a tree, well out of reach if Aang had a more-than-likely accident when waterbending.

Ten minutes passed with me playing catch with Momo, where I tossed a rock and it would jump to catch it and throw the stone back. Momo was surprisingly good at learning tricks, it only took a minute or two for it- or he?- to learn, especially with candied fruit as incentive. I was ridiculously happy with the game of catch, and even happier when the lemur let me hug him gently. If the Gaang wasn't careful Momo would turn into what my mom lovingly calls her own cat- an Attention W- H- OH- R-E. Hehe.

Like I'd complain.

Anyway, thirteen minutes was the longest I could resist the water's siren call. I stood and stripped off my vest, shoes and socks, then took off my pants and dress. I felt thankful for having worn a few layers in the wintry October night. Lastly I removed a long sleeve shirt and the tank tops beneath that, leaving me in my athletic bra and girl-boxers... so, forget that Hell No.

Besides, I barely have a chest to hide anyway, _and_ the sports bra made me rather flat. Less than Katara, that's for sure. I did my best to put my hair up in a tie. It was mostly a success.

Then? I was gingerly walking into the water, flinching and grinning at the chilliness of it before diving into the deeper part where Appa was floating.

I spent maybe half an hour diving down for any rocks sparkling in the sunlight, and then gathering them on the bank farthest from Aang and Katara. I should probably note that whenever I glanced in Sokka's direction he was either twitchy and riled while cleaning Appa's feet, or he was glaring at me.

Such a sweetheart, that guy. Maybe he gets better later on...

If he knows what's good for him he will. Otherwise he'll be the first person ever to be pranked by me.

When I started shivering in the water I climbed out and wrapped myself in my sleeping-mat-slash-blanket to sit and pick through the rocks I found. Hmm, eight out of twelve looked like dull rock crystal, and the rest were brown-orange or dark quartz's that needed loving polishing.

I was actually grinning at my small finds, feeling happier with the familiar routine. Well, familiar minus the diving. Swimming for treasure was an amazing change.

"Hey." I jumped at Sokka's voice behind me. He was standing with crossed arms and glowering with an _almost_ softer edge in his face. "Unless you have something to hide in it, you can show me more of that treasure-bag of yours."

Oh, that's all? Can do.

I stood up and showed him the rocks in my hand. "What's in the rest of bag is more precious than this, so you may be blinded."

Sokka squinted in my direction and I almost laughed as he grumbled, "Just show me already."

"Fine, fine. Since you asked so nicely, I'll even show you the really good stuff. You don't even have to wash up first."

"..." Sokka's eyebrow was twitching.

It was hard not laughing.

Over by the tree where I hung my bag, I put the mat down and spread it over the grass, then pulled out my bag of sparklies. Sokka squatted down, probably ready to spring away like an antelope, and I dumped out over a dozen bulging slightly small velvet bags.

"Pick one and look through it, but I'm watching so don't take anything."

"I won't. Why the heck would I?"

I shrugged, smiling. "Because they are pretty and might be worth money? So don't get any ideas, or I will punch you so hard your grand-children will feel it."

Sokka blinked at that and then glared. He picked up the brightest bag, a vibrant yellow one, then dumped it carelessly on the mat. I refrained from smacking him upside the head as he picked up a lemon colored chalcedony.

"How many of these do you have?"

I smiled slightly, feeling a bit cattish from his earlier Sokka-tude. "Probably more than you can count. I have many and I count them, so I'll know when anything is missing."

Sokka glared and dropped the crystals back in the yellow bag. He tossed it on in the pile and reached for the blue and white striped one next. That one held multicolored stones. I picked up the green bag and dropped a handful of lovingly polished treasures into my palm.

"You're really obsessed with this kind of thing, huh?" Sokka said suddenly. He was watching me raise an uncut-but-polished peridot to the sunlight and grin like a numbskull. "I really_, really _hate to say it... but the longer you're with us, the less you seem like Fire Nation."

"Why thank you," I said, smiling at him and feeling extremely awkward. "I try not to be sociopathic."

"Hmph. I still... don't want to trust you," Sokka said. He was staring at me, face serious though much less mean. "But I can't dispute the proof you showed us."

My breath caught, I wanted to grin and then felt like smacking myself for feeling hopeful. "If you're hinting at me staying only to kick me off a cliff of disappointment and hopelessness, I'll probably cry, Sokka."

He jerked, eyes wide. "No! Don't cry, I hate that!"

"Then choose your next words wisely, hombre."

Sokka smacked his face, groaning. "Alright, alright. Aang and Katara think we should still help you. We don't _hate_ you, alright? From those pitiful faces you've been making I bet that's what you were thinking."

... Damn it. I hugged my knees and hid my red face. "Um, sorry. I've always been an open book."

Sokka rolled his eyes when I looked back at him, and he was putting all the little bags in the big one, frowning heavily in a way different than from his 'You're Fire Nation, I despise you' expression.

"Are... you okay?" I said, feeling a little concerned. Was he wondering how to best sneak-toss me off of Appa while in the air, or was something really bothering him?

Sokka paused, as though thinking hard, and then didn't look at me as he shoved the bag into my lap. The Water Tribe boy stood and turned away. "It's nothing, Dana. Get dressed before you catch a cold and give us more trouble."

Ouch. I twitched at the barb and tugged his pant leg. "Sokka, I'm fourteen, not an idiot. No one has that kind of face for no reason, maybe you should talk to Katara."

Sokka shook me off and then, to my shock, rounded on me. "Fine, you want me to talk to someone? Here." He dropped down on the mat and glared. "It's you. You're in another world, separated from your mom and dad and your friends, but you're talking about giving up on home before even trying! Heck, you told Aang not to find the whatever-it-is that might have brought you here."

I leaned back, blinking rapidly. "Uh... yeah, it's just..." Why did I say that? The butthead was nearly right. "For one, I'm hoping the eyes weren't real. For another... I'm very selfish, Sokka." Self-deprecation colored my voice and I rubbed my forehead, avoiding his eyes. "If I was the _stupid_ sort I'd try to make Aang give up on his journey of learning and find me a way home. I want to do that so much it hurts, but... I can't do it. I can wait, but even if I can't get back I'll cope."

Sokka leaned forward, squinting one eye and catching my gaze. "Tell me then, if you really can't go home, what will you do?"

He got me there. "I... I could sell my rocks and buy a really small home. Maybe I could find work on a farm, or maybe... something." Oh, frustration thy name is Dana at the moment. "Sokka, in my world I'm still a kid. It's illegal for me to live on my own, so I'll have to wing it."

Sokka's eyes bugged. "Illegal? That's stupid. I'm fifteen, I'm a man and _I_ could live alone."

"I bet you could." My smile felt forced. Talking to him was making me tired. "I can't even fight properly, never mind hunting. I'm useless here, that's why I said to leave me at a village if things don't end well for me."

"And... if that village is taken over by Fire Nation soldiers?"

"I'm probably dead. I don't know what to say. Maybe I could go stay at Omashu, isn't that place safe?"

Sokka shrugged, staring off at Katara and Aang's waterbending practice. "Maybe there's nowhere safe from the Fire Nation. Not yet."

Moments of silence passed, then he turned to look at me, bug-eyed. "Wait! You're fourteen!? But you're shorter than Aang!"

I took a leaf out of Sokka's book and face-palmed.

After that the Water Tribe warrior got up and wandered back to finish picking out gunk from Appa's feet, and Aang ended up sending everyone's stuff down the river.

Well, not my things... Yes, I felt smug. Score one for thinking along the lines of Murphy's Law.

"Looks like I got that one down!" Aang wore a gleeful grin as he talked to his teacher. "What else do you know?"

Katara looked a little on the peeved-off-and-jealous side, but that might be my mistake. Was she really jealous of Aang? Huh. Nice to see even she's not perfect. I can relate.

"That's enough practicing for today," Katara said, glaring off away from the innocent airbender. Aang noticed her change in attitude and tilted his head.

"Yeah, I'll say," Sokka said. "You just _practiced_ our supplies down the river!"

Aang winced and rubbed his neck sheepishly. "Uh... sorry. I'm sure we can find somewhere to replace some of our stuff!"

Sokka had the funniest expression on when he grumbled, and I almost started laughing. "My life was hard enough when you were just an airbender..."

When the Water Tribe boy sunk down in the water I broke down and had a good little laugh before ducking behind a tree; there I pulled on my pants, one long sleeved shirt, and the vest with convenient pockets lining the inside.

Thinking on a trip to the market, maybe I should pick out some rocks to sell... The thought made me literally cringe and tear up like a wimp. On a serious note, it wouldn't do to completely depend on these guys when I don't even belong. I poked my head around the tree, about to call out and ask for five minutes, when I nearly bumped into Aang's face.

It _really_ didn't help that I actally was shorter than the fricking twelve year old.

"Whoa!" I squeaked and jumped back before falling down. "Aang, give a little warning before you sneak up on me! I have a fragile heart, seriously."

Aang laughed and pulled me upright, grinning. "Do you wanna come with us to the market? Katara says there's one in a nearby town."

My whole face was a question mark. "Um... I know I was going to ask if I could, but do you guys... really want me to come along?"

He nodded, grin mellowing into an awkward smile. "It's not your fault that you know so much about us, so we shouldn't treat you like it is."

I wanted to point out the uncomfortable hours of silence earlier, but I'm not one to kick horses in the teeth. "I'd love to join you guys, but I need to get some things to sell so I can have money. Then you guys won't have to waste any on me."

Aang nodded cheerily, and turned to call out, "Dana says she's coming! She just needs to get something to sell!"

"I thought they were too precious!" Sokka said, and then he was jogging over to stand beside Aang. Katara sighed from atop Appa's saddle. I sympathized with her.

"They are worth a lot to me," I said evenly. "But if I can be less of a burden, then I'll sell them, alright?"

Sokka eyed my bag greedily. "All of them? We could buy a lot of meat!"

I scoffed. "Hell to the no, buddy. I'll sell _some_ of them and be happy with what I get in return."

Aang smiled. "What are you guys talking about?"

I grinned and waved at Katara. "You like pretty rocks, right Katara?"

The waterbender looked over, "Is that what you have?"

"Yep! If you want to, come watch while I pick out what I'm gonna sell."

I sat down on the mat and meticulously sorted through each bag one at a time, putting aside the stones to be sold. Katara and Aang ooh'd and ah'd at the polished gemstones I spent about six years hunting down in the wild or buying with money I earned in every way a kid could. They and Sokka would pick them up, but I miraculously never lost track. When I finished sorting what I'd sell, I had a sizable pile that made my chest hurt just seeing it... and a dilemma.

"Does anyone have an extra bag for these?"

Aang jumped up and sped for Appa, calling back, "I do!" He returned with the bag I saw him carrying fruit in earlier. "Here, you can use this."

I grinned at Aang, resisting the urge to pat his head like the adorable puppy he reminded me of. "Thank you!"

**i0i0**

Once we all made it to the village Aang sent Appa back to the river and we all split up, Aang with Katara and Sokka with me.

Imagine my sheer joy.

Ah, I guess I was grateful for being lost with company, at any rate.

The town was huge, named Arukena or something. The market place was a virtual maze and we were lost for an entire hour before literally stumbling into the Jewelers Stall because Sokka tripped me (not?) accidentally. An old man working there, maybe the owner, was mean and short with me, but I spent my time willingly, showing him every stone and arguing the value. Luckily I received a few silver coins for some gems and even, to my delight, gold. Gold! Holy effing frijole!

Suddenly the Avatar World looked wonderous.

Or maybe that's my deadly sin showing.

"Are you going to share that money?" Sokka said, and he was drooling. Honest.

I chewed my lip, thinking. "Of course, if you guys need it. But I'm not wasting any on meat when I bet you can hunt just fine."

"Alright," Sokka said, puffing up a bit in pride and looking nonchalant. "I guess I'll accept that..."

"Don't worry," I said, smirking playfully up at Sokka. "I think greedy people like ourselves ought to stick together."

He snorted, crossing his arms and looking away. "Whatever. I'm not greedy."

I ignored that last word. Ten minutes more of wandering led us to Katara and Aang.

"Oh, hey guys! Look what I bought- a bison whistle!"

If people could really sweat-drop, I would have. Sokka pulled yet another face-palm and groaned. "Good for you Aang, but did you get anything we need?"

Aang merely grinned and pointed at the waterbender. "Katara got most everything, but now we need food."

Sokka scratched his chin thoughtfully, looking less than happy. "So we've got new bags and stuff? Good. Now Dana needs to do some shopping." He turned toward his sister. "Hey, Katara you're a girl, can you help her shop?"

Oh, Sokka. Sexist little butt-muncher.

Aang waved an arm energetically. "I wanna help too! It'll be fun!"

Reflexively, I ducked my head and played with the hem of my shirt, trying not to smile stupidly at how it seemed like they were accepting me even just a little.

Katara shot a look at Sokka for the sexist jab and I bit down a smirk- that was just so him. "Fine, I'll help her. But if you keep talking like that you won't like what happens, Sokka."

Ooh, I just thought of something brilliant.

Maybe she'll accidentally make a hot spring! Go Sokka, go!

**o0o**

Shopping with the trio was... interesting. Aang insisted on showing me and Katara anything and everything he found cool; Sokka would not-so-subtly point out every stand selling meat, and Katara was the only person proving even remotely helpful.

Being me, and because Fate decreed things be in easy reach, the serious shopping only took, maybe, thirty minutes to get basic necessities: an extra sleeping bag, hygiene stuff, other things that included a traveling bag like theirs... And by stroke of luck Katara found a book on Earth Kingdom Herbalism, which we both agreed would be useful 'on the road'. After that I felt all set for life on the road- or is it air?

A wander by the docks afterwards, with Sokka carrying my bag once I bribed him with jerky I bought, lead us to meet _the most suspicious man _in the history of suspicious people- and I've watched Pokemon.

...

Ahem. So, the Suspicious-Man spoke to us while we were passing an even more shady ship.

"Oh! You there!" The tall and grubby turd bolted toward us, making me step closer to Aang, because I'm brave like that. "I can see from your clothing that you are world traveling types!"

The trio slowed down and I smacked my forehead. Really? Were we seriously going to stop for _this _man?

Darn it all, this is where Creepypasta's probably started!


	5. Chapter Five

**** Language warning.**

**A great thanks to Thomas Drovin, The Fire Rain Alchemist, XxSaphirezxX, and Digi-fanCapp- **_**Thank you very much!**_** You're continued reading of this is amazing, and if you read this chapter too, doubly so.**

**And to John: Thank you, thank you! I love your review! If you come back to my fic, know that your words really made me happy. Also, yes! Dana won't be "useless" for long. It will take more than a few chapters but she will get some offensive skill to help her stay alive while she's teaching herself earthbending.**

* * *

**Arc 2, Thievery Part 2 End.**

* * *

Despite how I willed an elephant sized anvil to land on Greasy-Hair-and-Headband Man, nothing happened.

... I know, I know. 'Why do you dislike him so much, Dana? What's tickling your entirely over-active "Everyone is a Psychotic Joker Wannabe Radar" now?'

He could be an axe-murderer, or an assassin sent after Aang! Grease-Head could be a psycho of the Freddy Krueger or Michael Myers variety! Or... in all likelihood he's just a man who preys on especially gullible people.

"Perhaps I can interest you in some exotic curios?" said the Man-Who-Would-Be-Ash if I had Superman's heat vision.

As I expected he would and hoped otherwise, Aang turned right around. "Sure! What are curios?"

Mister Pirate, since he couldn't be anything else with _that_ ship in the background, had a deadpan face before grinning. "I'm not entirely sure, but we've got 'em!"

The Pirate wrapped an arm around Aang that I wanted to rip off, and guided us all toward the ship. I was left following them and shaking an angry fist at the sky.

Inside was... not as bad as I expected since there were no hanging bodies or shrunken heads. There was a medley of interesting things, ranging from freaky monkey statues, and tools, to weapons. Then there were cages with little animals that made me cringe. The cabin was stuffy, smelling weird from the scent of unsmoked tobacco and herbs. Everyone split up and checked out different things.

While Aang dealt with a greedy captain eyeing Momo, my attention fell on the small area of wall where a bunch of wicked looking weapons hung.

One was a long scimitar (known only from playing RPGs), a pair of sai's (like the weapons a certain ninja turtle uses), and several others. None of the blades appealed to me- I'd likely manage to gut myself somehow if I tried using one. Besides that I'm not one for bloodshed outside of TV and film.

Now, out of everything on that wall, this was the only weapon that stood out to me: a club about my height of four foot ten, with a sharp javelin point on the bottom and a sphere the size of Momo's head on the top with intricate symbols carved into the knob. I picked it off the wall, inspecting it, and noticed that the weapon looked like wood at a glance because it was made of time-darkened metal.

Now, since I'd had the habit of looking up nearly anything on the net while sick, I also knew what this weapon was called, in Earth at least. A knobkerry.

"Oooh, you've got a good eye there, girly," said the same Pirate from before. I decided to call him McGreasy and barely hid my scowl. "We got that off a traveller who said it once belonged to... _the Avatar_!"

Silence filled the ship, broken by some saddening whining from caged animals. I forced them out of my mind, otherwise I would do something completely stupid and get someone, or the whole gang, killed.

"What? From the avatar?" Aang said, wandering over quickly and eagerly. "Really?"

I bit my lip to stop my smile. Whether he meant to or not, Aang didn't blurt out his status as Avatar, thus avoiding highly probably trouble. I handed the weapon to him so I could wander off. "Here, you hold this, I'm going to look at something else."

And so, while Aang stared in fascination, I headed to the same box of scrolls that Katara was standing at. "Hi," I said, looking at her dazzled face. "You okay?"

"Dana! This is a waterbending scroll!"

I shooed her toward the big and mean looking Pirate Leader with a smile. "Then go and buy it. We can just scavenge for food. Aang's training is more important than empty stomachs after all."

Katara nodded and scooted off, grinning blithely.

Of course, as luck would have it, I looked in the box and saw one that turned out to be an earthbending scroll. Oy vey.

Hello temptation, we meet again...

**o0o0o**

Aang is awesome. Seriously.

He airbended over two-hundred-plus pounds above the heads of a pirate mob. Hell yeah, I'd say he entered the realm of Badass.

...

Confused? I'll explain.

Katara started talking to the captain about prices, dragging Aang into it. Sokka, by stroke of luck, started distracting the only other pirate in the room, and I... Well, hearing how expensive the Waterbending scroll was, I knew I couldn't afford it. Plus I'd always had quick hands, so I switched the scroll with a similar one from a basket beside the box, then slid it in my vest.

Not even a week into a world without security cameras and I'm stealing something expensive. I always had a feeling I wasn't as strait-laced as I liked to think...

Following the switch I pulled out my money bag, acting chill on a level I didn't know I could manage given the new circumstances. With it out I went over to the weapons wall to pluck the knobkerry from its hook, then I placed it on the captains desk. "How much is this?"

The captain squinted at me suspiciously, kinda like how Sokka did sometimes. I smiled to hide my cringe.

"You make a really scary pirate," I said honestly.

The captain threw back his head, laughing nastily, then smacked his palm on the desk. "It's twenty-nine silver pieces, lass. That piece of junk is more bad luck than its worth."

Um, what. "C-could you elaborate on that?" I said while reluctantly handing him the amount owed.

Captain Bastard smirked. "The traveler who sold it to us said it's cursed! Killed most every user aside from the supposed Avatar that battled with it; and ever since we've kept it, strange things have happened."

Joy. I had half a mind to assume he was screwing with me, but the rest said he was telling the truth.

I took the club off his ugly desk gingerly, like it would bite me. "Um, thanks captain..." Now I'm going to have nightmares.

At this time Katara sidled up to us, glancing around shiftily. "Can we get out of here? I feel like we're getting weird looks."

"Aye! We be castin' off now!" Aang said, making me snicker and earning a smile from the boy. We left the place quickly at Katara's insistence, and I started relaxing.

Could I be getting away with it? The last and first time I stole something was when I'd been eight; I took a toy car for a nephew and was grounded for three weeks.

"What was that all about, Katara?" Aang said while we stepped off the ships gangplank.

"Yeah," Sokka said, pouting almost. "I was just starting to browse through their boomerang collection."

Katara hugged her sides, like she was trying to reassure herself. "I'll just feel a lot better once we get far away from here."

I was about to ask her why when a yell stopped me. "HEY YOU! Come back here!"

While Katara backed away I literally yelped like a kicked dog. They found out! Shit. Sokka shot Katara and I a flat, appropriately suspicious look.

Aang, on the other hand, smirked in an innocent way only good kids can and said, "Well, well, look who's come to their senses! Told you the haggling would pay off."

In seconds over a dozen pirates swung off the ship, all wielding sharp weapons and more. "Crap. Crap, crap, crap!" This was the extent of anything 'intelligent' I had to say. "Holy crap!"

"I don't think those pirates are here to trade with us," Katara said uneasily.

We all took off through the alleys and passed numerous stalls. Katara made herself useful and bended some water into an ice puddle, which I managed to see at the cost of a few hairs when one of the pirates shot a damn arrow at me. Goes to show, looking behind you is never a good idea when running for your life. It seemed like hardly any time passed before I followed the Gaang into a dead end.

"Damn it, how are we escaping this?" I said, pressing into the wall to be an even smaller target.

Three pirates, including that first greasy long-haired one, blocked us in, and I'll admit I whimpered.

"Now, who gets to taste the steel of my blade first? It's thirsty, you see."

I clung to Sokka. To his credit he didn't shake me off right away.

"No one," Aang said, glaring and swinging his staff. He ran and we followed, then we were flying over-top of the mob.

As for me, I had the special joy of stomping on Mister Curios face.

I may have heard a delightful crunch.

**o0o0o**

The sun was setting by the time we made it back to camp. I was tired from clinging to Sokka's back and immediately collapsed on a patch of soft grass while Katara and the boys started talking.

"I used to kinda look up to pirates," Aang said, reclining on a rock. "But those guys are terrible!"

Katara sort of smile-smirked, making her look devious. "I know. That's why I took...," Katara paused and pulled out the scroll from before. "This!"

Aang's face twisted in worry and he jumped to his feet. "No way."

Oh ho, Katara stole it. That's great because it took away half my guilt leaving only an elephant's worth sitting on my chest.

Sokka looked almost beside himself. "No wonder they were trying to kill us! You stole their scroll!"

Katara folded her arms, smiling smugly. "I prefer thinking of it as _high risk_ trading."

Aang laughed, saying "Good one, Katara!" and I almost smiled. Deciding that then would be a good time to admit my idiocy, I sat up to carefully pull my prize out from my pocket. Sokka had a dark look on his face. I sensed serious doom.

"Sokka, where do you think _they_ got it? They stole it from a waterbender!"

"It doesn't matter!" Sokka sounded both exasperated and angry. Understandable. "You put all of our lives at risk just to learn some more fancy splashes!"

I forced myself to interject. "Um, Sokka? I... I stole a bending scroll too."

"What!?" Sokka yelled, voice cracking. "Oh, come on! What can _you_ do with one? You're not like them!"

Aang sidled passed Sokka like he was an angry wild boar and jogged over to my side. "What's it about?"

I handed Aang the scroll and turned toward Sokka, struggling to keep a non-pathetic face. "Honestly, I took it for myself... But Aang will need it if you guys can't find a teacher for him."

Sokka ground his teeth and I shrunk, muttering an apology.

"Sorry isn't going to cut it if one of us gets hurt, Dana. You and Katara ought to think of that _before_ doing something so stupid."

That low sense of pride I have? It took a blow and it hurt, making me bow my head. "You're right, Sokka. You're completely right."

The Water Tribe boy turned and stomped off, throwing his hands in the air while grumbling to himself.

Aang looked awkwardly between Katara and I, then spoke to the both of us. "Well, what's done is done. We should learn what we can."

**o0o0o**

My scroll had pictures on the inside, like the waterbending one, but someone wrote advice in between every illustration and covered the back in writing that I ignored for the moment. Oddly enough I could read the language as though it were English, since it translated as such in my brain.

Wow. Freakishly convenient. I seriously did not like that...

The first move is _Rock Levitation._ It looked like a capital B to do, but then all the rest did too. Before practicing anything I moved up river, yelling a warning to Aang saying where I'd be, and telling him not to make another giant wave. Once I was out of earshot I mimicked the stance of Rock Levitation, which had me spreading my feet out and shifting until I felt balanced; then one arm was to be held level with my waist while the other stretched more outward and aimed at the target rock.

Minutes passed. I willed the little bastard to move so hard I felt like my head would pop, but I still forged on stubbornly. Soon my legs had gone from stiff and painful to numb from staying bent in one place for so long. Every other minute I would lift the extended limb, imagining the rock jumping into the air.

Maybe half an hour passed. The sky was darkening and a few stars were peeking out in the purples of the sunset.

Just as I was about to give up and kick the rock into the water, Sokka suddenly spoke behind me. He didn't make a sound when coming up the river bank, holy crow.

"How's your magic rock training going?"

At his first word I shrieked and threw my arms up in alarm.

The beauty of that moment?

My rock flew up in the air... and landed right on Sokka's head.

The poor guy yelped and fell backwards, groaning in pain from where he lay on the pebbled bank. "First it's waterbending, then it's airbending, now you're an earthbender? Can't I get a break!?"

Instead of laughing at his usual luck or apologizing, I hurried (translation: stumbled) over and wrapped my arms around him in a big hug. "Thank you, thank you, thank you! Sokka, you are seriously the best person ever!"

Hugging Katara's brother felt... really nice. Not in the sappy 'I'm falling in love' way, but in that it felt wonderful having human contact. I really missed it, as childish as that sounds. I missed it a lot and I was going into withdrawl, which explained my new habit of hugging Bonbon out in the open.

"Um... uh, Dana?" Several seconds too many passed while I hugged him. When he spoke he sounded squeaky and his voice cracked. "You're kind of choking me. Let go!"

I pulled away and laughed sheepishly. "S-sorry, Sokka. I'm an affectionate person, I just didn't think..."

The (typical) guy scrambled back and staggered up. "Yeah, uh, that's fine. Just don't do it again. Ever."

I stuck my tongue out at him and blew a raspberry.

"Ack! I feel dirty!" Sokka took off running and I laughed. What a dickhead.

I hurried for the scroll, rolled it up, and then gave chase. "Sokka! You better run fast or I'll have you eating that ponytail!"

"I'd like to see you try!"

Well, okay then. Challenge accepted.

**o0o0o**

Challenge failed when he explained the cultural importance of his Wolf Tail thing.

Darn it.

Moving on. That night I packed everything I wouldn't immediately use (luckily, that included my scroll) and tied both bags to Appa's saddle. Why? I've said it before. I'm distinctly paranoid and believe in Murphy's Golden Law.

That's probably a good thing in this world sometimes...

**o0o0o**

Three days with the Gaang.

Three days. And one of the worst things have already happened- I was captured by pirates. Okay, okay, so Sokka and Aang were taken with me, but still!

The three of us weren't even awake for three minutes when it happened. Hell, I was still curled up and snoring.

Murphy's Law for the win.

They took my so-called cursed club and the boys things. Maybe they were thinking of selling it all. And I just bought it too!

How were we going to get it all back!? Triple crap.

The stupid pirates dragged us with them through the forest. Sokka kept quiet, I bottled up my whimpers, and Aang looked worried. Before I knew it we were on a rocky beach and shown off to a bunch of Fire Nation soldiers in armor and masks. Only two were distinguishable, and the sight of them had me crumpling to my knees, partly in fear and mostly in awe.

Zuko and Iroh.

Holy Sweet Mother of Cocoa.

What to say? My eyes were immediately drawn to Zuko's horrific scar, and then I took in his nice (though grumpy) face, and richly gold eyes. Then I looked to Iroh and, for the life of me, I could only see an uncle who would do anything for his beloved nephew. Compared to the destructive supernova that the Fire Lord brings to mind, Iroh is like the sun- gentle and life-giving. At least that was how Cordelia and Nelle described the spiritual, thoughtful man.

Over my head the pirates were talking about trading the water scroll for Aang, but I was still distracted by the two firebender's... And then Sokka opened his mouth in a show of brilliant discord triggering. "Are you really going to hand over the Avatar for a stupid piece of parchment?"

"Don't listen to him!" Zuko ordered. I bit my cheek to keep from smiling. Failed. "He's trying to turn us against each other."

Captain Bastard turned greedy eyes on poor Aang. "Your little friend is the Avatar?"

Sokka slid over, grinning slyly. "Sure is! And I'm sure he'll fetch more on the market than a stupid scroll!"

"Shut your mouth you Water Tribe peasant!" Zuko said, nearly yelling.

"Yeah, Sokka, you really should shut your mouth," Aang said quietly, shooting the boy a perturbed look.

"I'm just sayin'! It's bad business sense! Just imagine how much the _Fire Lord_ would pay for the Avatar." Sokka smirked at the pirates. "You guys would be set for life!"

"Keep the scroll," Captain Bastard declared, sweeping his arm out. "We can buy a hundred with the reward we'll get for the kid."

The Pirate Henchmen began dragging us away and I craned my neck to get a last look at the banished prince and his uncle. For a moment I caught Iroh's eyes, when I did I couldn't help smiling in wordless hello, and that was that, because a fat pirate got in the way.

I'll stop at this moment and explain something about myself- I hate conflict and fighting, at least when it's not on a TV screen. My knees get weak and I get the Flight instinct big time. Thankfully it didn't get me killed in the pirate and firebender typhoon that quickly followed the captains words.

"You'll regret breaking a deal with me," Zuko said dangerously. Then flames were flying at us and I shrieked, ducking and avoiding desperately.

The pirates sprang into action, surrounding Sokka, Aang, and myself. Fear made it difficult to think properly, but when a pirate dropped our stuff on the ground I took them (awkwardly) into my possession. Then I immediately lost all chances of survival the moment a smoke screen hit us. Suddenly spears and knives started swinging and stabbing from nowhere, missing me by centimeters.

It was harder moving around when my arms were still tied in front of me, weighed down by mine and other people's crap. Of course I _could_ have let it all drop, but then there was the money wasted on my weapon, Aang's material tie to his people, and Sokka's club. I couldn't abandon them despite logic screaming to stop being a dumbass and think only about myself.

That and I was freaking out too much. "Where are you guys!?" I called out. "I'm about to be killed!"

As if something cruel up there liked humoring people in the worst way, a spear flew by, cutting my bonds and nearly getting skin. Startled, I fell forward with a yelp and then that same fat pirate stomped on my hand. I swear I heard a crunch behind the blinding pain and my scream, but I can't be sure. There was definitely blood though, streaming from my palm.

"Katara! Dana!" Sokka said, yelling from somewhere behind me. "What happened?!"

"Are you hurt?" Aang said to my far right, muffled by the clang and smash of weapons.

The pain was absolutely nauseating, I couldn't really think with it. Somehow I staggered through the smoke, bumbling into a pirate and sending him to the ground where he got his head stepped on. I managed to make it out of the smoke, right after Aang pulled it all upwards and got the attention of everyone. So much pain, I was crying and barely holding onto our things. "I- I'm over here, come on!" I said, raising my voice as loud as I could given my distraction. "Follow my voice!"

More luck, in moments the boys flew out of the smoke and started dragging me toward the ship fifteen yards away. It took a few seconds too long for me to realize Katara was there and vainly trying to push it in the water.

"We'd need a team of rhino's to push this ship!" Sokka said, taking his club with a muttered thanks when he finished speaking.

Aang took his glider with a quiet thanks too, and sent me a concerned look when he noticed me trembling and saw my battered hand. He nudged Katara gently with a quick smile. "We don't need rhino's, we just need two waterbender's!"

"Good!" Sokka said in a vaguely shrill voice. "Now can you guys hurry up? Dana looks like she's about to vomit on me!"

Katara and Aang nodded. Settling into stances, they bended the water quickly, allowing the ship to float off the beach. While the Water Tribe siblings climbed up the ladder, poor Aang had to carry me onto the deck via airbending.

What happened after that?

It's... kind of hard to say.

Before this I'd never felt so much pain. A pampered life with next to no adventurous, reckless tendencies left me with very little pain resistance. Black and white dots clouded my vision. I felt even more nauseous and faint, and all I wanted to do was cut off my hand if it would stop the agony.

Basically after Aang helped me onto the ship things were all woozy and tilting like a terrible amusement park ride. The pirates made it onto their ship and attacked everyone, including me. I vaguely remember gripping my knobkerry with one hand and swinging it at every stranger that came at me. Mostly I was avoiding blows and deadly blade swings in a very drunk-swaying action that left my clothes shredded and bloodied with very superficial, stinging cuts.

All I know for sure is that by the time the ship fell over that waterfall, I was hardly conscious and woke up later on Appa's tail in a dense forest.

**o0o0o**

"Where... are we?" I said, glancing around the campsite.

The area was cozy, with Appa taking up space behind me, and a nice smokeless fire a safe distance away. Aang and Momo sat on a log, tossing a rock back and forth together. Katara had been sitting nearby on a log too, with a package wrapped in greyish leather.

Upon hearing me Katara hurried over with the leather-bound thing. She looked worried. "You've been out for a few hours. Dana, um, your hand..."

"Tell me," I said, feeling both serious and a bit silly. "Does it... have to come off?"

Katara reared back like she was slapped. "Spirits, no! There's an open wound on your palm. The dirt inside it from before must have made you a little sick, and the supplies we have now might not be enough to get rid of it."

From over on his bench Aang faltered in his game with Momo, dropping the stone. "Wait, what?" He sounded very quiet. When I saw how guilty he felt I winced and ducked my head down. "I- I'm the one who sent everything down river!"

Katara winced too, realizing what she just accidentally did. "No, no Aang, it's not your fault."

"It's really no ones fault," I said, choosing to sit up and wave my good arm. "Karma got me back for stealing the earthbending scroll and endangering you guys."

Sokka then walked into the clearing and right through a wall of bushes and brambles, carrying a sack and a dead creature of some kind. "Gah! Ow, when did those get there!?"

I blame the fever, but Sokka suddenly struck me as hilarious and between giggles I said, "You guys are all... totally awesome."

Sokka blinked and squinted at me. "Uh, is she okay?"

Katara wrung her hands. "I think she might be getting an infection, and she has a fever, Sokka. Did you find any of the herbs I told you to search for?"

Sokka nodded and tossed the sack to her. "Yeah, there you go. I found ones that matched the drawings and descriptions perfectly."

My body felt heavy and too warm. It reminded me of the time I caught a flu, when all I could do was lay around shivering and bitching at my posters and plush toys in lieu of driving any friends to throttle me.

When I looked at my bandaged hand I noticed something: Who changed my clothes?

...

It turns out Katara had to when treating several other cuts I got from some of the pirates. Whew.

Now I could sleep.

**o0o0o**

"Hey, hey Dana?" Small hands shook me gently. I groaned, mumbling something about 'Five more minutes, Appa'. One willowy arm slid behind my back, helping me to sit up. I grudgingly opened my eyes and saw that it was Aang being a helpful little... I don't have a cutesy word, so I'll say sweetheart.

"Whazzappenin'?" I mumbled, squinting at him curiously. From the feel of it, I was not laying on Appa's comfy tail anymore.

"Dinner!" Aang smiled and managed to look sad. "You've gotta be awake to eat, after all."

"Oh..." I blinked slowly, willing the heaviness out of my eyelids. "That's very true. Where's my food?"

"I've got it Aang," Katara said to my right. I didn't move until he shifted me over to an sheepishly smiling Katara. "Here Dana, this is... what you'll be eating."

Sluggishly, I looked from her down to the bowl she held in one hand. "What's that mush?"

Yep. Mush was a good word for the so-called food in that bowl. It was a dark color in the dwindling sunlight, with pieces of plants, brightly colored petals, and crushed flower heads.

"Uh... is it edible?"

Katara laughed, a forced noise, and somewhere else I heard Sokka chuckling. "Momo seemed to like it. I think it's safe."

"Is he still alive?" What? I had to know for self-preservation.

The waterbender looked behind herself frantically, then turned back with a brighter smile. "Yeah, Momo's about to jump on Sokka."

"Good. I guess I'll eat it." I sat up more, gently shrugging Katara off, and began slurping the watery mush down slowly, chewing only every other mouthful. Once I finished it I hummed, having actually liked the spicy, tangy and sweet taste because it made me think of tea. "That tasted good, thank you."

Katara clapped once in delight, grinning proudly. "You're welcome. I'm glad you like it because I made it!"

"She's lying!" Sokka said loudly from somewhere else. "If she was the only one cooking you'd be convulsing on the ground, Dana!"

"Sokka!" Katara half screeched. "Take that back right now! I can cook and you know it!"

The siblings started bickering and I couldn't stop laughing.

**o0o0o**

Some hours later, when the sky was black and filled with countless lights, I was still awake and counting the number of shooting stars I spotted. I was up to twelve.

My hand was bandaged and the thawing pad sitting on top had been frozen courtesy of Katara. Lifting up the pad, I could see that red had seeped through the dressing, but it didn't bother me much with such a pretty sky above. The nights in Avatar Land... they made me think of sunlit purple goldstone. So mesmerizing and almost heart-breaking.

"Dana?"

I turned my head and Aang was lying atop his bed of leaves on his stomach, watching me worriedly in the dying campfire's light.

"What's wrong, Aang?"

"Why do stare at the sky like that? At night, I mean."

I shrugged and pointed up. "Just... try imaging that with next to no stars."

Aang's eyes bugged. "Really? But... but how?"

"My world has a lot of... ugliness, Aang."

"Isn't there anything nice?"

I nodded, smiling as brightly as I could. "Of course. There's nature, the people I love and pretty rocks. That's about all... Oh, and chocolate."

"What's-"

"Remind me to give you some in the morning, then you tell me how it is."

"Sounds great! Now, will you sleep?" Aang stared at me with irresistible puppy-eyes. "Sick people really need sleep."

I waved my good hand at him and nodded. "Alright. Sleep tight, Aang, and sweet dreams."

"Thanks... you too."


	6. Chapter Six

**AN: *Spoiler for the Disney film Brother Bear if you've never seen it. **I don't expect much of a reaction to this chapter since it's so late in today. Still, I hope people like this one, even though I didn't get to a particular point in D's development...**

**Thank you Lumiere D'Amour and everyone else that has reviewed. :)**

**DISCLAIMER: Anything copy-righted and owned by others is not owned by me.**

**xXx**

**Arc 3, A Bit of Growth Part I**

Pain is supposed to wake you up and out of long dreams.

When I rolled onto my hand before the sun fully came up, I awoke with a muffled shriek and nearly roused everyone. As it is, I nearly scared the crap out of Momo.

Awful pain was throbbing in my hand, so more sleep wasn't an option. I sat there on my bedroll as I let the throb die down, and forced myself to contemplate, once more, the chances of this being just a wild dream. I know I've been over this already, but seriously. Waking up here is a million times worse than drinking black coffee when you expected cola. Actually, it's worse- like an odd, uncomfortable burning in my stomach, sort of hollow and not. It felt as though I stood on a cliff, looking down a thousand feet and feeling the sickening vertigo washing over me in steady waves.

I fully expected to wake up in my room with the window wide open, like usual, which would have explained the gentle chill. I fully expected my mom to start throwing pillows at my head and begin threatening to throw out my favorite books.

Not waking up to those, or even my friends, felt as frightening and lonely as it was thoroughly depressing.

Sure, I have the gang. They're funny, they're caring (well, the two benders are), and they haven't dumped me off in a village yet. I ought to be, and am, very grateful.

But... it hurts.

Heavy, emotion jammed chests are hard to breathe with after all.

Anyway, I only sat on my bedroll for a while, long enough to make me want to curl up and sob until the sun rose and set again. So, instead of crying I stood, felt my forehead for a temperature I didn't feel, and left to have a little walk without shoes and socks... Of course, I was careful. I picked my way over fallen things and didn't put my full weight down until I was sure nothing would make me bleed, and the walk only lasted a little while. By the end of it I still felt like crying.

Instead of giving into that urge I headed back to camp, took out my scroll, and put all of my concentration on attempting Rock Levitation.

Since this would only be my second time earthbending, I didn't expect much, but I managed. I don't know how long it took me to lift my target fist-sized rock, but when I did I was sweating and grinning. It stayed up for three minutes, believe me, I counted, and in that time I moved it in a wobbling and wide, slow circle around my head. Never before had I been so proud of myself. And I didn't even need Sokka scaring the crap out of me!

Eventually Katara got up, and by this time I was moving around a few pebbles in a swirl above my good palm.

"Dana? What are you doing up so early?"

I looked over, grinning brightly for the first time in what felt like forever. "Look! I'm earthbending, this is so cool! "

Katara's face lit up in an understanding smile. "That's great, Dana, I'm proud of you. Now, how's your hand?" Once I told her it was hurting a lot, she sighed and soon came over with a small jug of clean water and that medical kit. "You seem energetic, that's a good sign at least. Your fever must be breaking."

I smiled and nodded. "It better be. If I get really sick not only will I be dead-weight, Aang will beat himself up over it."

"Exactly," Katara said, cheerful and stern. "Since we both don't want him sad, I have to make sure you get better fast." The waterbender paused and tapped my nose. "Which means you have to take it easy."

"Alright then," I said, watching as she opened the jug and set the needed medical supplies out on my bedroll. "But, uh, could I still help out a little? Like, move the bedding's and stuff?"

Katara began unraveling my darkly stained bandage as she thought. "Only the bedrolls, and you can help me cook. No heavy lifting, alright? I understand what it's like wanting to help even when we're hurt."

The last of the bandage was stubborn. Katara had to use waterbending and soak it until it came loose, which is when she told me I should look away. I shrugged, saying I'm fine with seeing whatever she thought I shouldn't, and with great respect for Katara, I should have looked away. Nearly threw up. There was a brownish-yellow crust along the wound that was sewn closed. She used more waterbending to gently clean away the gunk and disinfect the area before smearing a pale brown cream along my wound.

While she did all of that I was nearly struck dumb. No doubt Katara had done the sewing. How much internal strength did it take to put a needle through my skin? Personally, I didn't have the fortitude to cut up a live worm to feed an orphaned sparrow. But she's...

"You're amazing," I told her, hardly louder than a whisper.

"Hm?" Katara briefly glanced up from her careful wrapping of a nice white bandage. "Why is that?"

I looked at her with a face that probably said 'Are you kidding me?'. "Katara, you freakin' sewed my palm closed. Right now you're a goddess."

Katara's head jerked up in surprise, and for a long moment she looked like Sokka had just walked by in a dominatrix outfit, but then she blushed and smiled. "Thanks, Dana... You can thank Sokka for being so accident prone."

The morning after that was peaceful.

Well, minus Momo bringing a swarm of weird feathered bee's chasing his furry behind right into the clearing.

**o0o**

So... I remembered the Chocolate Promise.

I didn't have many boxes of my all-time favorite chocolate seashells... But I really wanted to see their faces when they tried it. And, I'm happy to say, they loved the sweets. I even let Aang have a nibble off of my Caramilk.

Lunch time was when I recalled the promise, and I'm really glad I remembered it when on the ground and not the air- who knows what could have happened? Aang reacted epically to the extra sugar and whatever else was in the sweets, because he went very... _hyper_, is my word for it. I've seen hyper kids. Aang takes the cake and the bakery.

For over an hour, I'm very serious, he sped around the camp on his air-scooter, jabbering a mile-a-minute about anything and everything. He especially ranted about how awesome it will be to master all four elements, going on about how he'll come up so many new tricks we won't know what hit us.

I feel it safe to say that Sokka officially hates me. At least for the day. Aang was scaring away all the fish and the wild-life so all Sokka got for food was some fruit and nuts. On that note: Aang plus one killer Puppy-Eyes face equals extra sweets. But damn, if Sokka knew I'd given Aang more 'psycho sweets', he'd kick me off of Appa mid-flight.

Oooh, but I bet it would so be worth the kick just to see his hilarious face. At least I'd die laughing.

By the end of a perfectly mediocre lunch I was in a continual giggle-fit over the glares of 'You evil little girl, you made Aang crazy!' and the 'I hate you so much' flat stares Sokka sent me. Maybe Aang knocking him into a river had something to do with those looks. Aang did leave Sokka with an awesome Mohawk after drying him off.

Up in the air, following his long sugar-rush, Aang had a slight siesta on top of Appa's head until we next landed for dinner beside a large pond in one really dense forest. The young Avatar, Momo, and Sokka were sent off to find food to supplement the last of our main supplies.

All in all... I found it to be a very productive day considering I earthbended on my own, made two people happy, and found something to laugh about.

**o0o**

One thing that is difficult is shaking off an ingrained mindset. Especially one you hadn't noticed before.

This uselessness I felt upon accepting my situation as real and for what it was felt kind of startling. Sure, I felt useless at certain times, but that was just daily life and how I felt over various little or big fails. I had no need to fight in order to live.

Here, the feeling is like a slap in the face every time I wonder how I'll survive a war with my pathetic martial arts and earthbending skills. This sense of 'So useless, oh hell, I'm DOOOOMED' makes me feel ill at the oddest of times.

Is there even any earth at the North Pole? Will I be forced to use my sparklies for survival should some calamity happen?

See, if I understood one thing here in the AtLA world, it's that nothing is easy and one should always expect and prepare for the worst possible scenario.

Why think like that?

I'll put it this way: No one wants to watch a super happy, everything-is-gumdrops show, now do they?

And I _am_ in a damn Cartoon-but-Actually-Real world.

I can and will believe shit will hit the fan once we reach the North Pole.

**o0o**

Over the days that preceded my hand healing up enough for me to use properly again, I trained myself hard in earthbending.

Every morning I got up before the others, always thanks to my hand and my fidgety way of sleeping, and used my good hand to practice my bending. I would usually concentrate on rocks about the size of Sokka's head and move them around as quickly as possible in every direction.

For every afternoon, after eating something with the gang and mostly keeping to myself, I wandered off to once again work on getting stronger with the levitation technique. Every evening was like the morn and noon, except I would make myself attempt to raise up boulders nearly as big as me. To my excessive joy those big ones shook noticeably, enough to knock off any pebbles placed on top.

When in the air I would continue earthbending with a bunch of rough river crystals I found at different times. These I stored away from my precious sparklies, and kept together in the tattered shirt ruined by pirates.

My self-training was... pretty relentless for more than one reason:

I wanted to ease my fears of dying before being in my moms arms again.

I wanted to drive back the dreams I kept having, to keep from replaying them in my head. They were so realistic it always felt like I awoke into a dream each morning.

And finally, I wanted to better help the kind, quirky, trio doing more for me than they should.

By day six of recovery... I nearly worked myself back into a high fever. Luckily Katara didn't notice and I managed to sleep it off for nearly the entire day.

**o0o**

The morning Katara removed my bandages and declared, with a happy albeit-shocked face, that my palm was healed, she took out the stitches after numbing my skin with ice. Let me say, it still stung like a bee.

But my happiness knew no bounds.

With my hand free, though bandaged once more to protect the tender flesh at Katara's insistence, I literally skipped off to the nearest large rock.

I settled into a familiar steady, wide stance, then raised both hands into position. Whoo! Finally at full power (or so I hoped). On a whim I decided to see how high I could lift the boulder, which I judged to be up to Aang's shoulder.

It... didn't work out too well. I did manage to lift it a meter above my head and hold it for hardly three seconds, but then I lost control. I nearly crushed myself, but thankfully I scrambled out-of-the-way in time and was only hit by rocky shrapnel resulting from the mini-crater my falling boulder made.

Welp.

Not doing that again for a good long while.

As I worked on how fast I could move smaller head-sized rocks, which was getting faster than a badminton birdy hit by a little old woman, I wondered what I could do to improve faster.

Once I bored of shooting rocks at tree trunks, I hurried back to watch Katara and Aang practice their waterbending. They got me thinking as I played with my river-crystals. I compared how Katara and Aang work with and match their elements.

Water can be volatile, it's as apt to change as a heart- very suitable to her developing style; and Katara, in her noticeable maturity, matches completely with water. Aang is free-spirited, gentle, and very active- his is a bright element that matches him perfectly.

How do I match up with earth?

Unlike the last time I thought about this, I came up with a few points.

I can be obstinate and occasionally unable to give things, activities, or projects up- so tossing in the towel on earthbending is something I'll never do so long as I'm in the AtLA world. Sometimes, when my emotions get away from me, I don't back down and I stand up for myself regardless of consequence. That, and being able to "endure" things, was all I could think of.

Unfortunately, knowing how I might match up to earth wasn't going to help me learn.

I spent the hours flying on Appa by pushing two bowling ball sized rocks around my little part of the saddle, and doing some thinking. Obviously, like with exercise, I'll have to work myself up to bigger challenges, slowly but surely. I will do it, for myself and to help the gang.

Later on, after landing to have lunch, I bended the rocks off of Appa and hurried to help Katara set up the fire-site. Sokka, Aang, and Momo were sent away to gather food for a thick soup Katara had in mind. Both Aang and Sokka knew the plants she wanted them to find, thanks to that wondrous little Earth Kingdom book (many flora doubled as food). A medium-sized cooking pot was set to the side and ready for lunch-creation.

"Dana?" I looked at Katara and hm'd with a couple of wicked crystalline spark rocks in hand. "I've been thinking. You're really quiet, and I wondered... would you mind us getting to know you?"

Her words made my face twist and I dropped my gaze to the spark rocks. What she said was true, I was very quiet. I talked when they spoke to me, yeah, and I never ignored them, but unless someone talked first I kept to myself and stayed out of the way until needed for manual labor.

"You... you want to?" I said, just slightly confused. I decided to go with my usual bluntness. "But Katara, I won't be with you guys forever, why should we get close?"

When Katara looked sad I quickly went on. "I- I mean, I like you guys just fine. All three of you, even Sokka, are really great, it's just..." I paused and tossed a stick into the fire. "I get attached to people, Katara, and when they or I leave, it really, really hurts."

A forests silence came over the clearing, filled with rustling leaves and distant animal sounds, and then Katara spoke in a soft voice. "I see. That's one way of living, but Dana, you miss out on so much doing that." Katara turned and caught my eyes. "Why not take the chance you have now?"

I could feel my throat tightening at her words, at the look of open kindness and care in her eyes. They reminded me of my mom, of how she still manages to look at the world with trust and have her arms wide open for nearly anyone. When I spoke next my voice was emotionally rough. "You know... we're the same age here, but you're so much smarter, so much stronger." I smiled, feeling rather brittle.

Some more silence passed, one that felt slightly more comfortable. "It... it won't be easy," I said, and cleared my throat with a harsh cough. "But... I guess I could open up a bit."

Katara's answering smile was beautiful. "That's great! And Dana?" The waterbender leaned close and mock whispered. "I know we can't take their place, but Aang and Sokka both agreed that for as long as you need us, you'll be family too, even though it's only until you go home."

I had to look away from Katara's blinding sweetness, unsure of how I ultimately felt about her words. A bit of happiness, some comfort, a definite sense of ease- yeah, definitely. I guess I'm a sucker for the word 'family' alright, especially from people I feel trust with. But, did she really mean it? I felt confused on how to respond, and Katara saw this on my open-book face. She didn't hesitate to lean closer and wrap an arm around me.

"No one deserves to be alone, Dana."

I gave in and hugged Katara back before pulling away to offer her a shy smile. "Thank you."

A short time after this Sokka came waltzing back into the clearing with a huge ring-tailed squirrel slung over his shoulder.

Huh. I guess Sokka _can_ hunt.

Aang sped into the clearing on his air-scooter with two bulging bags. "Look, Momo and I found lots of stuff to eat!"

"That's great, Aang, Good job!" Katara said. I clapped and sent the happy boy a smile.

Between us girls we cleaned the wild vegetables and fruit (potato things, lichi nuts, some small and mercifully sweet-not-spicy peppers, and other things), sorted out what's edible and not, and then had the soup under way as Sokka set up his own fire farther off. Once he had it going he set about cleaning up his kill well within sight of Aang and I.

My reflexive response to this was to send a rock pinging off his shoulder.

"Ow!"

"Must you do that here? I mean, really? Aang and I can see you." I crossed my arms and squinted at Sokka.

"What! You two don't have to look, why should I move?"

"Uh, respect for the vegetarian?"

Sokka rose an eyebrow. "Try again, he hasn't complained yet."

"Fine then," I said, holding back a little growl. "If I see your skinning that thing I'll never be able to eat meat again."

Sokka looked like he heard the answer to every global problem. "That means more meat for me!"

I directed my best 'I will maim you in your sleep' glare at him and he groaned. "Alright, fine. I know that look, it usually means pain."

Sokka picked up his things, a few knives, and headed off to the rocky shore of a nearby river. As he passed me I called out a thanks and he waved his bloodied knife, muttering under his breath.

In a short while Sokka had parts of the squirrel-coon roasting over his fire, which I helped keep alight by tossing in pieces of wood from the pile he had made before. As the meat finished cooking we all ate some thick and mildly salty soup that didn't taste bad at all. No one complained, at any rate. Once the squirrel-coon finished roasting it didn't taste bad either even when plain.

Not to sound like a butt-kisser, but I made sure to thank Sokka for such a good catch since he did do the dirty work. He preened like a flippin' peacock, making Aang and Katara giggle, which ruined the compliment I took the time to give. Sokka immediately deflated, reminding me of a kicked dog. I didn't see any problem giving him the rest of my meat so I did.

"Than' 'ou!" Sokka said, mouth full. I cringed.

With the resident hunter happily stuffing his face, I looked toward Katara, who was sitting beside me. She had a funny little smile on her face as she looked between Sokka and me. Was she thinking...? I choked back a laugh and leaned close to whisper, "Happy people work harder than miserable ones."

"Oh, good point." Katara giggled.

**o0o**

A few days passed after Katara's advice. I continued practicing more and more, but when I tried moves other than levitation nothing seemed to work properly for me.

Frustration was difficult to deal with, but I chose to think of a story to tell the gang as a way to calm down a bit and reach out. It had to be something nice and not too gory for a first time thing.

I'd save Nightmare on Elm Street for later.

The sky was, as always, dark and star-studded. The main trio was seated around a fire and talking amongst themselves, while I sat much farther away. I found a nice place on Appa's front limb and was partially curled up against the side of his fluffy cheek while I petted the giant bison.

"Why are you over here again? And why are you so quiet?"

I jumped and squeaked when Aang's voice startled me from above. The mischievous little airbender was smiling down at me from one of Appa's horns.

"Uh, well..." Shouldn't he be with Katara and Sokka? "I just think a lot."

Aang was silent for a moment, then he jumped down and looked at me with sad, older eyes. "Believe me, Dana, thinking too much... it's never very fun."

His words made me zone out in thoughtful agreement, and the next thing I knew a hand was its wriggling fingers in my face. Aang was smiling down at me hopefully. "C'mon, you should sit with us."

Honestly, I would have declined if it hadn't been for what I told Katara. I said I'd try. Without thinking too much I reached out and held Aang's hand, and then he was laughing happily as he dragged me over to the only fire going. He sat me on a log and dropped down beside me.

"See, Sokka? I told you I'd get her here!"

As if on cue both Sokka and me face-palmed. Katara looked away, laughing sheepishly. "Uh, good job Aang..."

Half awkward silence followed. Apparently neither sibling expected me to actually listen to Aang. I forced back a random laugh at their 'Wow, he did it!' faces.

"So..." I said, fiddling with a loose thread on my pants. "Is anyone interested in hearing a story?"

"I am, I am!" Aang waved a hand, grinning widely.

"What kind?" Katara asked.

Sokka yawned and nodded.

I thought for a moment, back to some of the movies that made me feel very happy.

"Something nice. It's a story called Brother Bear."

"Just _bear_?" Sokka said, eyeing me weirdly. The other two mirrored his skepticism.

"Animals in my world are much simpler, just go with it." They nodded and I cleared my throat, feeling a bubble of excitement creep through me. "The story starts with three brothers, each with a totem animal that represents their greatest quality..."

I went through the story line of the movie, explaining a few concepts here and there. I embellished some things too, and I gave as much mental visuals as I could without killing my monologue. The group took well to the tale, and I really enjoyed telling them. Brother Bear made me feel as excited and happy narrating as I did watching it. By the time I finished, Sokka, Katara, and Aang were sitting on one log and eating nuts almost like popcorn.

"In the end, Kenai and Koda were accepted as honorary members of the tribe, and Kenai finally got to place his mark on the sacred wall with all the rest. He and Koda lived with the other bears in peace, having fun every day and learning things together. The tribe also learned to have more respect for the bears of the forest."

Aang and Katara looked like they wanted more, and Sokka was nodding as though satisfied.

"Uh, that's all. I... I hope I didn't ruin it for you."

"No, that was really great, Dana," Aang said, sounding sincere. He then not-so-subtly nudged Sokka.

"Well," the carnivore said, rubbing his side. "I, uh... like it? It was kinda funny in a good way."

"Yeah, don't worry." Katara waved her hand. "It was really nice."

That bubbly excitement from earlier came back like a tsunami, and I felt my face burn with a dark blush. Good thing it was night time and I'm dark skinned, so the gang didn't seem to notice. Still, I had to look away and hide my grin behind a hand before mumbling a thank you to Katara and them.

"Aww, is someone embarrassed?" Sokka said with a laugh. I blew a raspberry at him for the tease.

"Oh, stop it, Sokka," Katara reached behind Aang and slapped his head.

"Do you know any more stories?" Aang said, smiling eagerly. His happy face made me feel good knowing I put the smile there.

"Oh, I have a lot," I said, buffing my nails off my chest. "But, um, not all of them are nice like that one..."

"Scary ones?" Katara said, tilting her head. I nodded.

"You? Scary stories?" After saying this Sokka laughed so hard he fell off the log. I sent a rock pinging lightly off his forehead. "Ow! You can't blame me for laughing, you're scared of your own shadow!"

If I could use earth to bury him I would have. "That was one time! One!"

Katara giggled quietly in her hand. "Well, shadows can look scary."

I couldn't help myself after hearing Katara say that, so I leaned forward with what I hoped was a creepy smile. "Shadows do hide monsters... Tall and skinny ones with black bodies and long spindly arms that wrap around you in a tight, brutal grip. They drag you off into the dark, dark forest, passed bloody brambles, until you see a blank and eerie white face. It splits open to reveal several horrible sets of jagged needle teeth that reek of rotting flesh."

The trio all gave me weird looks and Aang squinted nervously at the dark forest beyond the fires light. I nearly fell off my log laughing.

"Like I said, I have lots of freaky stories to tell too."

Katara released a quiet, awkward laugh. "How about... you save the scary ones for the day time?"

Aang rubbed his neck in an embarrassed way. "Uh, yeah, that sounds good. Right, Dana?"

I smirked. "Sure thing."

**xXx**

**Please drop a line if you finished the chapter. If anyone notices something wrong (like say, with tenses or repeated words) just say it, I'm pretty good at taking critique. And if I mentally scarred anyone, because of Sokka, I apologize. **BTW: Monster referenced is Creepypasta spiced up by Dana.**


	7. Chapter 7

**AN: So, finally partially back on the shows story line, I really, really hope this chapter goes over well. I have plans. :) **WARNING: MAJOR. SHOW. DEVIATION. Swearing.**

****DISCLAIMER: I ONLY OWN DANA AND OC, COMPRENDE?**

**** SOPA. Anyone looking forward to this? 'Cause I'm not. Maybe this will help people think of signing that White House petition.**

***Edited slightly.**

* * *

**Arc III, A Bit of Growth Part II. (Side Tale, "Jet" part I)**

**xXx**

Opening up to the gang wasn't exactly _easy_, but it definitely wasn't as hard as I expected.

'Course, I didn't get all buddy-buddy, I still felt distant, but I came up to them, started conversations and offered help before I could be asked. And as for the two other benders, I decided to ask for help with my earthbending practice.

Aang airbended large leaves around for me to target with small stones that steadily grew faster. Both he and Katara would create water hoops and spheres for me to use too, ones that moved pretty darn fast.

Some weird, staggering exhaustion had hit me the morning after I told the gang a story. I knew I hadn't been exerting myself in the physical sense, I knew very well how _that_ felt, so what was making me tired? The only possible explanation (in my view) had to be some type of energy use. Maybe it was chakra, like in Naruto, or ki from Dragon Ball Z. Since I couldn't decide which, I just up and asked Aang whether elemental bending used an internal energy source.

Aang looked at me, surprised. "Yeah... I was told that bending is only possible when someone has enough control over their chi to reach beyond the body and manipulate their element."

"Ah... thank you, I was just wondering." I sent a smile Aang's way and began thinking very hard about chi and some other stuff.

That, at least, answered some questions. My life energy. Using that to a (possibly) excessive degree each day would definitely cause... chi exhaustion?

Huh. And that brought me to this thought: did AtLA world chi circulate in the Meridian Channels, like Earthling's theorize? If so, were there Eight Extraordinary Vessels? I hoped it was the case, because those E.E.V. are said to be reservoirs of energy. And... if the _Meridian Channels_ exist here, what about Dantians? The main three, Upper, Middle and Lower are thought to be vast seas of chi, especially the Lower Dantian.

Never before had I been more glad for my Aikido sensei's penchant for rambling about those subjects while sitting back and watching us practice...

Wait. _AtLA World._ Usable chi. Me, other-worlder.

...

Getting off of that particular subject now.

Meridian Channels, E.E.V., and Dantians- knowing of them, yeah, all well and good. But how do I go about connecting with my own chi?

I mean, I could only assume _that_ was the reason I couldn't manage much more than Rock Levitation no matter how I willed any spikes of earth to pop up. And believe me, I willed those spikes so hard I brought on a nosebleed, which I couldn't stand to let run down my throat because of the icky feeling. I walked into camp hunched over like a parody of some old woman.

I tried being inconspicuous as I straightened up, pinched my nose, and strolled toward the river, but when the blood began slipping back and down my throat I just went _fuck it_, gagged, and let them see.

Sokka had looked over while yawning, then yelped at the sight of my bloody shirt, which I had managed to spectacularly not notice. He hurried over, which drew a waterbending Aang and Katara's attention, and... Well, Aang freaked out, asking if my nose had broken, and Katara had me hunched over a patch of bear earth when I refused to tilt my friggen' head back.

Basically, that fiasco ended with Katara scolding me, Aang pleading-slash-telling me to be more careful, and Sokka smacking my shoulder in reprimand for worrying them all. Oh, and he (basically) ordered me to never push myself into another nosebleed, and to make sure that it never happens again, I had to practice within sight of the camp.

...

Is it wrong that I almost laughed in his face despite being happy over his and their concern?

Either way I complied, since I knew I'd have (more-or-less) politely asked the same thing if things were reversed.

As for chi and how to connect with... with 'mine', I put off pestering Aang about it.

My earthbending practice continued, and the more I pushed myself to lift heavier objects, the more I wondered. If there was something off about my chi, a disharmony of some kind maybe, was I completely lucky to manage what I've done? Thoughts like that bothered me.

But... the friggin' ass-hat's following us 'bothered' me even more:

Yep, the frickin' Fire Nation soldiers. Nearly every time we set down for lunch, sometimes even dinner, a bunch of soldiers would pop in and we'd have to fight (meaning I would run around a lot and sometimes trip someone with earthbending), and then we'd leave quickly and find some place else to eat or sleep.

To put it lightly, I was getting **severely **pissed off.

When I said I liked to think I didn't anger easily, that was true, it takes some work to get my feathers ruffled. I'm pretty good at bottling up ugly, damaging emotions like anger and more. But in those four days, oh man, I was in a constant internal battle to keep from alienating anyone. And that made me even more angry at the Flaming Turds.

I _never _want to hurt the gang. They've been there for me.

That last is why I wanted to improve my accuracy as much as humanly possible, then I could become something like a sniper and not get in anyone's way. As for _why_ I only concentrated on levitation...

Nothing else worked.

Sure, I figured out how to channel power through my club, enough to shatter (sometimes over) a meters width of earth and use _that_ as weapons. My inability to manage another move also added to my snowballing feeling of anger.

**o0o**

One afternoon, while looking at my river crystals and wishing I had enough courage to experiment with my precious sparklies, I made a decision because by my palm-scar and our frequent fights: I needed to learn how to bash some Fire Nation heads, and the one to help was Sokka.

I crawled over to where he lay on the saddle and poked his knee.

"...what do you want, Dana?" He didn't move from his head-hanging-off-of-saddle position.

Dealing with Sokka wouldn't be too hard. I just had to barter a bit. "If I give you my meat portions for a week, would you help me learn how to fight?"

Sokka choked on his spit before lurching up and eyeing me like I was crazy. "What? But you have your earthbending, and you're so _tiny_, you wouldn't make a good fighter."

Seconds later he let out a shrill yelp as Katara kicked his leg and I pinched his shoulder. "Enough! This is not Beat Up Sokka Day!"

"Did you really forget about the Kiyoshi Warriors?" Katara said, eyeing him in a way that screamed 'How are we related?'.

"I did not," Sokka said rubbing his bruises. "It's just, well, Dana's even tinier than Aang! She can't get strong-"

I slapped a hand over his mouth and stared the older boy down. "I'm very aware of that, Sokka. But it's all in how I use what I have, right? And it's not like I'm a good earthbender yet. Knowing how to fight would help me stay out of trouble in the conflicts we manage to _frequently _find."

The Water Tribe warrior slapped my hand off and sighed. "Make it three weeks and we have a deal."

I fist-pumped and high-five'd Aang. "Thank you, Sokka."

The older boy hung his head. "Yeah, yeah. Let's just see if you can last a day, and if the Fire Nation gives us a break."

I glowered up at the blue sea of sky. "Yeah. Ha. We'll see..."

**o0o**

It seemed like something up there humored the us.

Sokka said, on the morning of my first Training Day, that the first step to being a warrior is to get stronger. The next one is learning how to dodge and sharpen my reflexes, and the last of three 'Sokka Disciplines' is learning how to use my knobkerry without tipping myself over after more than two swings. The club, Sokka said, has the same weight as a Water Tribe spear. I'd need to learn how to move with my weapon in order to not let it send me into deaths waiting jaws.

For two days Sokka woke me up fairly early (with Katara's assistance), then we'd eat and before he'd make me exercise into the ground with what he called strength training. At lunch he would have me try to dodge a stick he'd (Dare I say gleefully?) swing. At dinner, while the sun was barely beginning to set, and after eating, he'd show me stances to steady my body with the club as I swung it, and then he'd have me try and block his own weapon.

Not at all fun, I'll say that.

By the morning of day three my body was hardly able to move through the sheer pain in nearly every muscle. It hurt to even move my neck!

**o0o**

Day three was supposed to be my rest day, which worked out for a while.

It was the afternoon when we landed in a large autumn-red forest. It was beautiful and I was laying (bonelessly) against Appa's fluffy side while playing with rocks. The gang was chatting about what we could eat, and I was just trying to relax my muscles. Momo was also gone, probably eating bugs.

"Where's Momo?" Aang said, and a loud screech answered.

"There he is," I muttered, stumbling to my feet.

We hurried toward where Momo was, and I mostly shambled after them as fast as I could. The flying lemur was waaay up in a tree, caught in a metal trap that immediately set me on edge- it isn't like _everyone_ in this world has advanced metal-smithing, right? Once Momo was free I poked at the cage with my foot.

"I'm going to take a wild guess and say this is bad," I said quietly.

"Yeah, these are Fire Nation traps," Sokka said, kneeling beside one. "We need to move on, fast."

Back at Appa, when the gang was packing up again, Sokka went and mentioned that we shouldn't fly on the flying giant. I silently inside and wondered if this was one of those moments where Sokka's luck and-or instincts causes some Hysterical-on-TV-but-Terrifying-in-Reality moment. He and Katara argued over Appa's _obviously_ noticeable size.

"I know you all want to fly, but my instincts are telling me it's a bad idea. We need to play it safe this time and walk."

"And _who_ made you the boss?" Katara said, eyeing her brother challengingly.

"I'm not the boss, I'm the leader," he said back. I couldn't help myself- I cracked up and laughed, earning a withering look from Leader Boy.

Katara nearly laughed. "You're the leader? But your voice still cracks!"

Cue me Hyena-Giggling more and leaning weakly against Appa. Sokka glared again, and I waved at him with a 'She's right' smirk.

"I'm the oldest, and I'm a warrior!" Sokka said, voice cracking. I kept a hold of myself and didn't laugh, only had a coughing fit with what sounded like 'Bull-shit!' in between. No one noticed. "So I'm the leader!"

"If anyone's the leader, it's Aang," Katara said. "I mean, he _is_ the Avatar."

"Are you kidding? He's just a goofy kid."

Accidentally, Aang and I said at the same time, "He's right." The both of us shared an amused smile.

Katara sighed in exasperation. "Why do boys always think someone has to be the leader?"

"I think it's because many are half cavemen," I said, winking at Katara. She smiled in agreement.

"I am _not _a caveman!"

"Stop acting like it and I'll stop calling you one," I said, snickering.

Oh, that lame nickname began when I watched Sokka tear into a piece of meat like a wild animal. I've stuck to it ever since.

Katara poked her brothers forehead. "I bet you wouldn't be so bossy if you kissed a girl."

"I've kissed a girl!" Sokka turned to me. "Dana, help me out here."

"Well, she kissed his cheek." Sokka face-palmed. "Does that count?"

The waterbender laughed and Sokka groaned. "Look, my instincts tell me we have a better chance of slipping through on foot, and a leader _has _to trust his instincts."

Katara was giving him The Look. I was trying not to laugh at the family dynamic since they're so close and it was nice seeing family together. Yep. No jealousy. Alright, maybe a little, but I still thought it was really nice.

"Okay, we'll try it your way, O' wise leader."

Aang hopped down from Appa with supplies on his back. "Who knows, walking might be fun!"

I giggled quietly. Famous last words.

Two minutes later we were all well on our way, and my feet were already killing me, like every other part of my body. At my insistence and partial begging I was left carrying my drawstring bag and bedroll. Eventually, striving to ignore my aching, I felt like testing Sokka's cosmic luck against mine and sidled up to him.

"Hey, Sokka?"

He turned and gave me a funny stink-eye. "What, are you gonna complain too?"

"Not yet. I want to make a bet." Pausing there, I smirked slightly. Sokka's squinted at me suspiciously. "If we run into any Flaming Turd soldiers because of your instincts you have to give me a piggy-back ride whenever I want for a month."

"If we don't?" Sokka looked as though he wasn't liking the bet yet.

"You get my share of the meat for two months."

Sokka's face lit up like fireworks. "Deal!"

Half an hour later we were still trudging along. By then I was dragging my feet and hardly keeping up with Katara.

"Walking stinks! How do people go anywhere without a flying bison?"

Though tired, I poked Aang with my elbow and winked. "Oh, I don't know, we just walk or ride smaller land animals?"

"Why don't you ask Sokka's instincts, Aang?" Katara said from behind. "They seem to know everything."

"Ha ha, very funny. Not," grumbled our resident warrior.

"I'm tired of carrying this pack," Aang whined, echoing my own feelings.

"You know who you should ask to carry it for a while? Sokka's instincts!"

"That's a great idea!" Aang looked like he meant it. I giggled into my hand. "Sokka's instincts, would you mind-"

"Okay, okay! I get it already! Look guys, I'm tired too, but the important thing is that we're safe from the Fire Nation..."

As Sokka's luck would have it, he led us right into a large clearing crowded with Fire Nation turds. If I hadn't been so _Oh my GOD, damn it Sokka, I'm gonna die_ I would have laughed. When he yelled "RUN!" the gang dropped their bags, I dumped my sleep-roll, and we tried to flee. Unfortunately the flaming turds moved too fast and our way out got cut off by fire. We were surrounded. Sokka's good luck also had _him _set on fire, and Katara put it out.

"If you let us pass we promise not to hurt you!"

I hurriedly raised up a handful small-but-hefty rocks from nearby and glared.

"You? Promise not to hurt _us_?"

I heard a faint noise after a beat of silence, and then Leader Crap was on the ground. I smirked. So someone might be on our side. I hope they stay that way.

"Good work Sokka! How'd you do that?" Aang said.

"Uh..."

"It wasn't him," I helpfully pointed out. "Someone's hidden out of sight."

Katara suddenly pointed upwards excitedly, and there was a figure up in the trees. As we all watched, the person swung down and landed on two soldiers, which was undeniably cool. In the span of three seconds he'd taken out another two, which left me awed.

"Down you go," said the older boy.

Suddenly younger kids and warriors were dropping into the clearing, right on top a few turd-heads. The gang separated, and I hurriedly shambled away from the fire behind me, keeping my rocks close. A single soldier decided to charge at me and, by stroke of luck, I smashed all my rocks into him, with one aimed at the exposed face.

Down he went! My first real and not accidental win! Whoo!

As I kept moving, my fear partly forgotten, I suddenly noticed that my back was suspiciously light... Oh, fuck.

I whirled around so fast I nearly tripped, and saw my bag at the feet of a soldier. To put it lightly, I panicked and stabbed the ground with my clubs javelin-end, splintering the hard earth. I rose my mini arsenal in a wall around my front and I pinged one rock off the turds helmet with enough force to snap his head to the side.

Boy did that grab his attention.

The large soldier charged as I concentrated on the rocks in my bag in order to give them a sharp tug toward me, then I sent all the sharpest shards of rock at him with as much force as I could. They flew fast and hard, knocking him down and giving me enough time to move and smash the rest of my stones into his face. From where I stood spotted sharp rocks sticking out of his cheeks and from gashes on his forehead. The man's face was a river of blood.

That blood was... drawn by me. I made the man bleed.

Gingerly, in the midst of battle, I pulled my bag up into my chest and tried to breathe properly.

Wait, was he still breathing?

Before I could scramble over and check, a little boy tackled me and saved my butt from being shish-kebab. All he said to me was, "You have to keep moving!" and he continued to drag me with surprising strength.

Not a minute after my rescue all the soldiers were down and tied up. I was left feeling rather... pathetic. No one else had to be saved by a little boy, after all. I decided to push that soldier out of my head.

"Hey, you were pretty good out there!" The little boy beside me half a head shorter and sporting a bright smile. "I saw you earthbending! I'm The Duke. What's your name?"

I blinked, still caught in a rush of adrenaline, and clutched my things in one hand in order to hold the other one out to shake his. Once I introduced myself I had to ask something. "Hey, do you... do this often, Duke?"

"My name is _The_ Duke, and we Freedom Fighter's do this all the time. It's fun." After saying this he waved and walked over to a Hulk-ish guy.

In order to distract myself, I went into the nearest tent and searched for a bag. The tent held two cots and both sides of the place had a distinctive personality- one had stylized posters of fire and phoenixes, the other had scroll-paintings of cherry-blossom trees and green river split valleys. Since I liked the cherry-blossom side better, I went through that strangers set of chests, boxes, and bags before the other.

Soon enough I'd found two shoulder sack-bags with adjustable straps (one from Phoenix-Side) and a nice pile of things I deemed interesting or possibly useful.

The first bag was large, black with grey trimmings, and felt very heavy. The second was as big and had a lovely dark maroon coloring with black trimming, but held much less.

Once I decided I liked the maroon bag better I dumped out most of its contents and kept what I liked. Then I carefully organized the pile I previously made and separated things into what I liked and what could be used. Everything in the second pile went into my new bag with all that I legally owned. What I liked could probably be sold, so most of that went in too. By the end of my scavenging session I'd found a drool-worthy amount of gold and silver in a bag from the Phoenix side.

...

Okay, I _know_ I should have felt _really,_ reallybad for taking someone's things, and I'd like to take a leaf from Sokka's book and say "Oh, he's Fire Nation so pshaw!", but I just wanted things. Even if they were over-sized (CLEAN) man clothes and more.

... I did hint that my deadly sin was greed. Plus, the AtLA world was full of opportunities someone like me shouldn't get.

Anyway, in the cool black-and-grey bag I found too many things to list carefully packed, things including a strange weapon. But what stood out to me (aside from the weird three-part stick), was the dried food, the two bowls and little pot, a tarp... They were items one would need if they wanted to survive out in the wilderness.

For some reason I couldn't pin-point, the heavy bag gave me a feeling that crawled up my spine.

The more I rifled through that very-nice bag, the more I wondered why someone had this packed. It was like... they'd been planning on running away.

That notion disturbed me. Why would someone loyal to their nation have this ready? If what I thought was true, one of the soldiers outside was actually not a bad Flame Turd.

It didn't take long to find a tear-stained letter in a side button-down pocket. It read :

_"My name is Kuzon Akam._

_Two months ago my parents were murdered. _

_The reason for their deaths are as follows: A homeless orphan lost her family to a nobleman's cruel whims when he caught the parents rooting through his trash for sustenance. The child, a sweet and helpful thing named Zahara, retaliated while blinded by her emotional agony; she threw bricks at the nobleman's home, breaking windows. For that he accused her of trying to take his life and had an eight year old put on wanted posters and killed for dishonoring his "honorable" family. _

_My mother, my brother, and my sister took in the child, uncaring of her poorly-judged death-row status. They nurtured her, they made her feel loved and human again even after the Nation that little one was born to turned its back on her._

_Before I go on, I must say that my family was well known in our small neck of the Fire Nation Capital because we treated everyone with respect and compassion. Everyone I met, from what I __**thought **__I knew, loved my family, especially my diplomatic and generous mother. She helped neighbors care for their sick children, she helped teach younglings who could not afford schooling, and she __**never **__turned anyone away._

_My family had hearts of true Fire: Warm, life-giving, and loyal._

_Neighbor's thought nothing of ratting out the Akam's. Soldiers came by, demanding the child. When my brother protected Zahara with his firebending, the soldiers burned down my house with them all trapped inside. _

_They were burned alive in front of witnesses and no one thought anything of it._

_I __**cannot **__be a part of a corrupted, lost nation that treats even one innocent soul like filth._

_I would rather die._

_And I will. _

_Whether my letter is burned for its supposed blasphemy, it __**will**__ be read by someone. That someone will have what I wrote in their mind, they cannot deny the absolute misery I have dealt with. They cannot deny how far the Fire Nation has fallen... _

_They cannot deny how little their king truly cares._

_Please, do not dismiss this letter, for these are the last words I have for a heartless nation."_

I was crying before I'd finished.

Something was very wrong here. This Kuzon had a suicide letter stuffed in a bag ready for him to escape from fellow soldiers, a bag prepped for wilderness survival.

...

Oh. Holy Mother of Cocoa.

This guy, he's a deserter. He- he was leaving the brigade, he meant to run off and do who-knows-what, but he was leaving and abandoning his screwy nation. Was he doing it to help a different people? To help the war? Could he possibly be an ally?

Holy Pogo jumping Peter Pan.

I couldn't deal with this alone, I had to tell someone! I had to tell Aang.

Keeping myself relatively calm, I ignored the chattering outside and the sound of kids stealing everything from the camp, and searched Kuzon's things for a photo or something. Soon enough I pulled a highly realistic, folded drawing from a book. It was of a long haired teenage-boy, and a older woman with a beautiful smile. A dirty little boy hung off of his brother like monkey, and a small girl clung to her mother.

I... I don't know how long I sat there on my knees, staring at the photo, thinking about how Kuzon is more alone in this world than I am. All I know is when that little boy, The Duke, walked in to loot things, I jumped at his voice and fell sideways with the drawing in hand.

"Hey, are you okay? Why are you crying?" The boy crouched beside me and sniffled.

I blinked at him in confusion before holding up the drawing. "Um... this drawing just... reminded me of my family."

Duke's face went sad and awkward. "Oh... um, are you taking things from here?"

I nodded and scrubbed gently at my face, thankful I hadn't been crying for long, otherwise I'd look like Baba Yaga. "Yeah, I'll be done here soon. I'll call your name when I'm done, kay?"

Duke smiled, agreed, and left me alone. After that I crossed my legs and composed myself while allowing my eyes some time to lessen the reddening that happens _whenever_ I cry.

Pushing Kuzon out of my head, I went back into _my_ maroon-black bag and had a look-over of my loot. Somehow my things and what I stole didn't quite fill up the bag, even including BonBon.

I knew I had to leave the tent eventually, like, before I got left behind or something, but my legs didn't seem to want to move.

Evidently my adrenaline had worn off. All muscles, previous fear, and the despair I felt for Kuzon made for a surprisingly effective paralytic. Taking a minute of deep breaths, I managed to stand through sheer will-power, only for a young airbender to burst through the tent and tumble into me.

Aang was rubbing his head while he nearly sat in my lap. "Ow..."

I scoffed and poked him. "You, ow? What about me?"

He jerked and fell off of me. "Oh, sorry! Are you okay? The Duke said you were crying and all he told me was that I should probably talk to you."

Perfect opportunity had just literally smacked into me. I felt a bubble of hope tickle my chest and I smiled.

"It's okay, I was crying earlier because of this." I grabbed Aang's hand and pressed the folded letter into his palm. "Read it with an open mind."

"Oh, okay." He sat cross-legged and began reading the letter, but not without a confusing, subtle flinch at the beginning. He finished the letter and looked at me sadly. "Why would you make me read this? I don't think I can help him."

I leaned forward and shoved Kuzon's bag at him. "Oh, but we can. His bag is filled with everything a person needs to survive the wilderness, heck, it even has the same herbalism book we have."

Aang's face cleared in a blink. "He was going to leave, this letter is just a trick."

"Exactly. I think... I think we have to help him."

Aang smiled and nodded. "You know, I do too. Besides, this Kuzon could be the man who teaches me firebending!"

**xXx**

**Oh, Aang, how completely wrong you are. **

**When I started this chapter I meant to have Dana find an animal friend. Instead she found a letter and a **_**biiig**_** dilemma. Isn't just GREAT how things get out of hand?**


End file.
